THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Natricidae  

Saltmarsh Snake
Nerodia clarkii (Baird and Girard, 1853)

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Rautsaw et al. (2021, Molecular Biology and Evolution 38: 745–760) demonstrated reduced gene flow due to isolation by environment between N. clarkii and N. fasciata. While showing that the three subspecies of N. clarkii can be detected using genomic data; the authors also demonstrated significant gene flow among these lineages. The authors suggest that these subspecies may result from isolation by distance, thus questioning the continued recognition of these taxa.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2025.02.10.08.04.10)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.45 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Alabama Florida Louisiana Mississippi Texas

First instance(s) of published English names:
Clark's Snake (Tropidonotus clarki: 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); Flat-tailed Water Snake (Tropidonotus compressicaudus: 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 Water Snake (Tropidonotus compsolaemus: 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); Yellow Water Snake (Tropidonotus ustus: 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); Clark's Water Snake (Natrix clarkii: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46); Clark's Water Snake (Natrix sipedon clarkii: 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.); Flat-tailed Water Snake (Natrix sipedon compressicauda: 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.); Gulf Salt Marsh Snake (Natrix sipedon clarki: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Mangrove Water Snake (Natrix sipedon compressicauda: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Atlantic Salt Marsh Snake (Natrix sipedon taeniata: 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:
1853 Baird, Spencer F. and Charles Girard. Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part 1. Serpents. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 2(5):xvi + 172
1938 Clay, William M. A synopsis of the North American water snakes of the genus Natrix. Copeia 1938(4):173-182
1991 Lawson, Robin, Albert J. Meier, Phillip G. Frank, and Paul E. Moler. Allozyme variation and systematics of the Nerodia fasciata-Nerodia clarkii complex of water snakes (Serpentes: Colubridae) . Copeia 1991(3):638-659
2021 Rautsaw, Rhett M., Tristan D. Schramer, Rachel Acuña, Lindsay N. Arick, Mark DiMeo, Kathryn P. Mercier, Michael Schrum, Andrew J. Mason, Mark J. Margres,, Jason L. Strickland, and Christopher L. Parkinson. Genomic adaptations to salinity resist gene flow in the evolution of Floridian Watersnakes. Molecular Biology and Evolution 38(3):745–760

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Saturday 26 April 2025 22:43 CT