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Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Natricidae  

Diamond-backed Watersnake
Nerodia rhombifer (Hallowell, 1852)

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

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, 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 St. Louis 20(5):59-274); Holbrook's Water Snake (Natrix rhombifera: Hurter, Julius. 1911. Herpetology of Missouri. Transactions of the Academy of Science 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 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 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-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, 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
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: Saturday 26 April 2025 22:07 CT