THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY


Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Colubridae  

Florida Rough Greensnake
Opheodrys carinatus Grobman, 1984
OH-fee-oh-dreez — kar-ee-NAY-tus

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
See comments under O. aestivus. (Boundy, Jeff, Frank T. Burbrink, and Sara Ruane. 2025. Squamata (excluding lizards) – Snakes. Pages 38-54 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2024.02.18.21.18.16)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.03 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Florida

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its arboreal habits and prominent scale keels.
Opheodrys — From Greek ophis (ὄφις), meaning “snake,” and drys (δρῦς), meaning “tree” or “oak,” referring to its arboreal (tree-dwelling) nature—literally “tree snake.”
carinatus — From Latin carina (keel) and the suffix -atus, meaning “keeled” or “having a keel,” referring to the prominent keels on the dorsal scales.

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:
1984 Grobman, Arnold B. Scutellation variation in Opheodrys aestivus. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 29(3):153-170
1987 Plummer, Michael V. Geographic variation in body size of Green Snakes (Opheodrys aestivus). Copeia 1987:483-485
1992 Grobman, Arnold B. On races, clines, and common names in Opheodrys. Herpetological Review 23(1):14-15
2000 Walley, Harlan D. and Michael V. Plummer. Opheodrys aestivus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (718):1-14

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 16:59 CT