Green water snake
| green water snake | |
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| Nerodia cyclopion in Arkansas | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Colubridae |
| Subfamily: | Natricinae |
| Genus: | Nerodia |
| Species: | N. cyclopion |
| Binomial name | |
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Nerodia cyclopion (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854) |
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| Synonyms | |
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The green water snake (Nerodia cyclopion) is a common species of nonvenomous natricine snake endemic to the southeastern United States.
It is distributed from Florida westward to Louisiana, and northward through the Mississippi Valley into southern Illinois.
More precisely, it is found in southwestern Alabama, southeastern Arkansas, Florida, southeastern Georgia, southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana, western Kentucky, Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southeastern Missouri, southern South Carolina, western Tennessee, and southeastern Texas.
The type locality is New Orleans, Louisiana.
This species differs from all other North American water snakes by having one or more small scales under the eye, giving the appearance of a ring of small plates around the eye.
These heavy-bodied snakes are dark green, olive, or brown dorsally. Ventrally, they are yellowish on the anterior third, and the on remainder they are dark brown with yellow or white semicircles.
They average 76–140 cm (30-55 in.) in total length; record, 188 cm (74 in.) for a specimen of N. c. floridana.
N. cyclopion prefers still waters such as bayous, lakes, marshes, ponds, sluggish streams, and swamps. It is sometimes found in brackish water.
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Wikipedia