| Southern water snake | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Colubridae |
| Subfamily: | Natricinae |
| Genus: | Nerodia |
| Species: | N. fasciata |
| Binomial name | |
| Nerodia fasciata (Linnaeus, 1766) |
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| Synonyms | |
|
Coluber fasciatus |
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The banded water snake or Southern water snake (Nerodia fasciata) is a species of mostly aquatic, nonvenomous, colubrid snake found in the central and southeastern United States, from Indiana, south to Texas and east to Florida.
Contents |
The Southern water snake grows from 24 inches (61 cm) to 48 inches (120 cm), and is typically gray, green-gray or brown in color with dark cross-banding. Many specimens are so dark in color their patterning is barely discernible. They have a flat head, and are fairly heavy bodied. Their appearance leads them to be frequently mistaken for other snakes with which they share a habitat, including the less common cottonmouth.
The species is ovoviviparous.
There are three recognized subspecies of N. fasciata:
Some sources consider Nerodia clarkii compressicauda and Nerodia clarkii taeniata to be subspecies of Nerodia fasciata.