THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Natricidae  

Concho Watersnake
Nerodia paucimaculata (Tinkle and Conant, 1961)
NEH-roh-DEE-uh — pah-see-mak-yoo-LAH-tah

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: 2023.04.10.07.49.09)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.11 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its reduced number of body blotches.
Nerodia — From Greek neron (νερόν), meaning “water,” and possibly hodos (ὁδός), meaning “path” or “way,” though the construction is irregular. The name alludes to the aquatic nature of these snakes.
paucimaculata — From Latin pauci- (few) and maculata (spotted), meaning “few-spotted,” describing its relatively sparse dorsal blotches compared to related species.

First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1938 Clay, William M. A synopsis of the North American water snakes of the genus Natrix. Copeia 1938(4):173-182
1961 Tinkle, Donald W. and Roger Conant. The discovery of the water snake, Natrix harteri, in western Texas with the description of a new subspecies. Southwestern Naturalist 6(1):33-44
1991 Collins, Joseph T. Viewpoint: A new taxonomic arrangement for some North American amphibins and reptiles Herpetological Review 22(2):42-43
1992 Densmore, Llewellyn D., III, Francis L. Rose, and Stephanie J. Kain. Mitochondrial DNA evolution and speciation in water snakes (genus Nerodia) with special reference to Nerodia harteri. Herpetologica 48(1):60-68
2014 Crother, Brian I. The bold taxonomic hypotheses of Collins (1991): 23 years later. Herpetological Review 45(2):268-272

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 16:53 CT