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Nerodia cyclopion (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL, 1854)

IUCN Red List - Nerodia cyclopion - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Natricinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Mississippi Green Water Snake
G: Grüne Wasserschlange, Grüne Schwimmnatter 
SynonymTropidonotus cyclopion DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 576
Tropidonotus cyclopium — GARMAN 1884: 26
Tropidonotus cyclopium [sic] — BOULENGER 1893: 244
Natrix cyclopion — LOENNBERG 1894
Natrix cyclopium — COPE 1900: 961
Natrix cyclopion — BURT 1935
Natrix cyclopion — CLAY 1938
Nerodia cyclopion — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 147
Nerodia cyclopion — MATTISON 1995: 162
Nerodia cyclopion — CROTHER 2000: 67
Nerodia cyclopion — ERNST & ERNST 2003: 2019
Nerodia cyclopion — WALLACH et al. 2014: 483
Nerodia cycopion — LEMOS-ESPINAL 2015: 452 (in error) 
DistributionUSA (E Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, SE Missouri, S Illinois, extreme W Tennessee, W/S Mississippi, S Alabama, S/E Georgia, extreme NW Florida, S South Carolina, extreme W Kentucky)

Type locality: “New Orleans”  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesSyntypes: MNHN-RA 0650 and MNHN-RA 3481, largest a 1130 mm specimen. 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS: Natrix c. cyclopion and N. c. floridana may be distinguished from other North American species of the genus by the presence of one or more subocular plates and an ill-defined dorsal color pattern of about 50 mid-dorsal bars alternating with a lateral series, which in turn is more or less in alternation with a second and lower lateral series. The typical subspecies is distinguished by having the belly brown, scale rows 27 in males and 29 in females, and caudals averaging 73 in males and 64 in females [CLAY 1938: 177].


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Comment 
EtymologyNamed after Greek kyklopion, referring to Cyclops, a small one-eyed giant. 
References
  • Allen, Morrow J. 1932. A survey of the Amphibians and reptiles of Harrison County, Mississippi. American Museum Novitates (542): 1-20 - get paper here
  • Blackburn, D.G. & Stewart, J.R. 2011. Viviparity and placentation in snakes. In Aldridge & Sever (eds), Reproductive biology and phylogeny in snakes. CRC Press, pp. 119-181 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. London (Taylor & Francis), 448 pp. - get paper here
  • Burbrink FT, Futterman I. 2019. Female‐ biased gape and body-size dimorphism in the New World watersnakes (tribe: Thamnophiini) oppose predictions from Rensch's rule. Ecol Evol. 00:1–10
  • Burt, Charles E. 1935. Further records of the ecology and distribution of amphibians and reptiles in the middle west. American Midland Naturalist 16 (3): 311-336 - get paper here
  • Camper, Jeffrey D. 2019. The Reptiles of South Carolina. University of South Carolina Press, 288 pp. [review in Copeia 107 (3): 590, 2019] - get paper here
  • Clay, William M. 1938. A synopsis of the North American Water Snakes of the genus Natrix. Copeia 1938 (4): 173-182 - get paper here
  • Conant,R. & Collins,J.T. 1991. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern/Central North America, 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin (Boston/New York), xx + 450 p.
  • Cope, E.D. 1900. The crocodilians, lizards and snakes of North America. Ann. Rep. U.S. Natl. Mus. 1898: 153-1270 - get paper here
  • Crother, B. I. (ed.) 2012. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Seventh Edition. Herpetological Circular 39: 1-92
  • Dixon, James R. 2000. Amphibians and reptiles of Texas, second edition. Texas A&M University Press, 421 pp.
  • Duméril, A.M.C., G. BIBRON & A.H.A. DUMÉRIL 1854. Erpétologie générale ou Histoire Naturelle complète des Reptiles. Vol. 7 (partie 1). Paris, xvi + 780 S. - get paper here
  • Dundee, H.A., & Rossman, D.A. 1989. The amphibians and reptiles of Louisiana. Louisiana St. Univ. Press, Baton Rouge 300 pp.
  • Enge, Kevin M. 2009. Venomous and non-venomous snakes of Florida. Publication of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. 16 pp.
  • Ernst, C.H., & Barbour, R.W. 1989. Snakes of eastern North America. George Mason Univ. Press, Fairfax, VA 282 pp.
  • Garman, Samuel 1884. The reptiles and batrachians of North America. Mem. Mus. comp. Zool, Cambridge (Massachusetts), 8 (3): xxxiv + 185 pp. [1883] [CNAH reprint 10] - get paper here
  • Gibbons, J. W. & Mike Dorcas 2004. North American Water Snakes. University of Oklahoma Press, 496 pp.
  • Guyer, Craig; Mark A. Bailey, and Robert H. Mount 2018. Lizards and snakes of Alabama. University of Alabama Press, 397 pp. - get paper here
  • Irwin, Kelly J. 2004. Arkansas Snake Guide. Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, Little Rock, 50 pp.
  • Karlström, Asa and Steen, David A. 2016. Geographic Distribution: Nerodia cyclopion (Mississippi Green Watersnake). Herpetological Review 47 (4): 631 - get paper here
  • Lawson, R. 1987. Molecular studies of Thamnophiine snakes: 1. The phylogeny of the genus Nerodia. Journal of Herpetology 21 (2): 140-157 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal, Julio A. (ed.) 2015. Amphibians and Reptiles of the US - Mexico Border States / Anfibios y Reptiles de los Estados de la Frontera México - Estados Unidos. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas. x + 614 pp.; ISBN 978-1-62349-306-6. - get paper here
  • Lönnberg, Einar 1894. Notes on reptiles and batrachians collected in Florida in 1892 and 1893. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 17 (1003): 317-339 - get paper here
  • Lutterschmidt, William I.; J.M. Weidler, and Christopher M. Schalk 2019. Hot Moments and Hot Spots in the Bayou: Spatiotemporal Patterns of Road Occurrence in a Snake Assemblage in Louisiana, USA. Herp. Conserv. Biology 14 (2): - get paper here
  • Mattison, Chris 1995. The Encyclopedia of Snakes. New York: Facts on File, 256 pp.
  • McAllister, Chris T., Henry W. Robison, Stanley E. Trauth and Renn Tumlison. 2014. Geographical Distribution: Nerodia cyclopion (Mississippi green watersnake). Herpetological Review 45 (4): 665 - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Sanderson W E. 1993. Additional evidence for the specific status of Nerodia cyclopion and Nerodia floridana (Reptilia: Colubridae). Brimleyana 19: 83-94. - get paper here
  • Siegel, Dustin S.; Stanley E. Trauth, Justin L. Rheubert, Brian Rabe, Brenton Ruopp, Aurélien Miralles, Christopher M. Murray, and Robert D. Aldridge 2014. Novel Cloacal Glands in Snakes: The Phylogenetic Distribution of Ventral Urodaeal Glands in Thamnophiini. Herpetologica 70 (3): 279-289. - get paper here
  • Tennant, A. 2003. Snakes of North America - Eastern and Central Regions, revised edition. Lone Star Books, 605 pp.
  • Tennant, A. & Bartlett, R.D. 2000. Snakes of North America - Eastern and Central Regions. Gulf Publishing, Houston, TX, 588 pp.
  • Van Hyning, O. 1931. Reproduction of Some Florida Snakes. Copeia 1931 (2): 59-60 - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Werler, J.E. 1948. Natrix cyclopion cyclopion in Texas Herpetologica 4 (4): 148. - get paper here
  • Werler, John E. & James R. Dixon 2000. Texas Snakes. University of Texas Press, 544 pages
 
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