Nerodia erythrogaster

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Plain-bellied Water Snake

Plain-bellied Water Snake
Nerodia erythrogaster

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Nerodia
Species:	N. erythrogaster

Binomial name

Nerodia erythrogaster
Forster, 1771

Synonyms

Tropidonotus transversus
Hallowell, 1852
Natrix erythrogaster
Clay, 1938

The Plain-bellied Water Snake (Nerodia erythrogaster) is a common species of mostly aquatic, non-venomous, colubrid snake found in the United States.

1 Range and habitat
2 Description
3 Reproduction
4 Subspecies
5 References

[edit] Range and habitat

This species ranges through much of the southeastern United States, from Illinois to Delaware in the north, and Texas to northern Florida in the south, but it is absent from the Florida peninsula and the higher elevations of the Appalachian Mountains. They are almost always found near a permanent water source, a lake, stream, pond or other slow moving body.

[edit] Description

Adults are 30-48 inches (76-122 cm) long. It gets its common name, because it has no patterning on its underside. Species can vary in color from brown, to grey, to olive green, with dark colored blotching down their back, and an underside that is yellow, brown, red or green.

[edit] Reproduction

This species bears live young (ovoviviparous), like other North American water snakes and Garter snakes. In North Carolina and Georgia, the Plain-bellied water snake breeds from April to June, and batches of 5-27 young are born in August to October.