THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Dipsadidae  

Pine Woods Littersnake
Rhadinaea flavilata (Cope, 1871)
rah-din-ee-ah — flah-VEE-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: 2023.04.10.09.45.13)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.43 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Alabama Florida Georgia Louisiana Mississippi North Carolina South Carolina

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its pale yellow coloration.
Rhadinaea — From Greek rhadinos (ῥᾰδινός), meaning “slender,” with the suffix -aea (feminine), forming a name that translates to “the slender one,” referring to the genus' characteristically gracile body shape.
flavilata — From Latin flavus, meaning “yellow,” and latus, meaning “side” or “flank,” with the feminine ending -lata. Thus, flavilata means “yellow-sided,” referring to the snake’s pale yellowish to tan dorsal coloration.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Yarrow's Dromicus (Dromicus flavilatus: 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); Brown-headed Snake (Rhadinea flavilata: Brimley, Clement S. 1915. List of reptiles and amphibians of North Carolina. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 30(4):195-206); Yellow-lipped Snake (Rhadinaea flavilata: 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.); Yellow-lipped Snake (Rhadinea flavilata: 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:
1871 Cope, Edward D. Ninth contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 23:200-224
1974 Myers, Charles W. The systematics of Rhadinaea (Colubridae), a genus of New World snakes. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 153(1):
1995 Whiteman, Howard H., Tony M. Mills, David E. Scott, and J. Whitfield Gibbons. Confirmation of a range extension for the pine woods snake (Rhadinaea flavilata). Herpetological Review 26(3):158
1999 Walley, Harlan D. Rhadinaea flavilata Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (699):1-5

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