THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY


Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Natricidae  

Diamond-backed Watersnake
Nerodia rhombifer (Hallowell, 1852)
NEH-roh-DEE-uh — ROM-bih-fur

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: - 1.51 MB

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its characteristic dorsal pattern.
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.
rhombifer — From Greek rhombos (ῥόμβος), meaning “diamond” or “lozenge,” and Latin -fer (bearing), meaning “bearing diamonds,” referring to the chain of diamond-shaped markings along the back.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Holbrook's Water Snake (Tropidonotus rhombifer: Jordan, David Starr. 1876. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Jansen, McClurg, and Company, Chicago, Illinois.. 342pp.); Holbrooks's Water Snake (Tropidonotus rhombifer: Jordan, David S. 1878. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Second Edition, Revised, and Enlarged. Jansen, McClurg & Company, Chicago. pp.); Hollbrook's Water Snake (Tropidonotus rhombifer: 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); Diamond Water-snake (Natrix rhombifera: Hay, Oliver P. 1892. Batrachians and Reptiles of the State of Indiana. Pages 409-624 in 17th Annual Report of the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources,. William B. Burford, Printer and Binder, Indianapolis, Indiana. pp.); Spotted Water Snake (Natrix sipedon: Rhoads, Samuel N. 1895. Contributions to the zoology of Tennessee. No. 1, Reptiles and amphibians. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 47():376-407); Holbrook's Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46); Diamond-backed Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Hurter, Julius. 1911. Herpetology of Missouri. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 20(5):59-274); Holbrook's Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Hurter, Julius. 1911. Herpetology of Missouri. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 20(5):59-274); Diamond Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Strecker, John K., Jr. 1922. An annotated catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Bexar County, Texas. Bulletin Scientific Society of San Antonio (4):1-31); Diamond Backed Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Taylor, Edward H. 1929. A revised checklist of the snakes of Kansas. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 19(5):53-62); Diamond-backed Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: 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.); Water Adder (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Holbrook's Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Diamond Back Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Diamond Moccasin (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Diamond Backed Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Diamond Black Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Diamond Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); North American Rhomb Marked Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); The Diamond Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); The Diamond Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); False Moccasin (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Diamond Back Moccasin (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Diamond-back Moccasin (Natrix rhombifera: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Diamond-backed Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Diamond-backed Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera rhombifera: 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:
1852 Hallowell, Edward. Descriptions of new species of reptiles inhabiting North America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 6:177-182
1938 Clay, William M. A synopsis of the North American water snakes of the genus Natrix. Copeia 1938(4):173-182
1972 Baker, Robert J., George A. Mengden, and James J. Bull. Karyotypic studies of thirty-eight species of North American snakes . Copeia 1972(2):257-265
1980 Rossman, Charles E. Ontogenetic changes in skull proportions of the diamondback water snake, Nerodia rhombifera. Herpetologica 36(1):42-46
1985 McAllister, Chris T. Nerodia rhombifera. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (376):1-4
1987 Lawson, Robin. Molecular Studies of Thamnophiine Snakes: 1. The Phylogeny of the Genus Nerodia. Journal of Herpetology 21(2):140-157
2010 Brandley, Matthew C., Tim J. Guiher, R. Alexander Pyron, Christopher T. Winne, and Frank T. Burbrink. Does dispersal across an aquatic geographic barrie robscure phylogeographic structure in the Diamond-backed Watersnake (Nerodia rhombifer)? Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 57(2010):552–560

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Tuesday 28 April 2026 12:19 CT