THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Natricidae  

Striped Swampsnake
Liodytes alleni (Garman, 1874)
LYE-oh-DYE-teez — al-EN-ai

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.09.21.41.44)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.15 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Florida Georgia

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for a prominent American zoologist.
Liodytes — From Greek leios (λεῖος), “smooth,” and dytes (δύτης), “diver.” The name means “smooth diver,” referring to the snake’s aquatic habits and smooth scales.
alleni — A patronym honoring Joel Asaph Allen (1838–1921), a prominent American zoologist and ornithologist who worked at the American Museum of Natural History.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Allen's Snake (Helicops alleni: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Florida Swamp Snake (Liodytes alleni: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Allen's Mud Snake (Liodytes alleni: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Allen's Mud Snake (Liodytes alleni alleni: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); South Florida Mud Snake (Liodytes alleni lineapiatus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1874 Garman, Samuel. Description of a new species of North American serpent. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 17:92-94
1913 Ruthven, Alexander G. and Crystal Thompson. The variations in the number of vertebræ and ventral scutes in two snakes of the genus Regina. American Naturalist 47:625-632
1983 Price, Robert. Microdermatoglyphics: The Liodytes-Regina problem. Journal of Herpetology 17(3):292-294
2002 Ernst, Carl H., J. Whitfield Gibbons and Michael E. Dorcas. Regina. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (756):1-4
2003 Dorcas, Michael E., Poppy, Sean M., Ernst, Carl H., and Gibbons, J. Whitfield Regina alleni Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (778):1-4
2013 McVay, John David and Bryan Carstens. Testing monophyly without well-supported gene trees: Evidence from multi-locus nuclear data conficts with existing taxonomy in the snake tribe Thamnophiini. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 68:425-431

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 17:00 CT