Nerodia paucimaculata

Nerodia paucimaculata, commonly known as the Concho water snake, is a species of mostly aquatic, nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Texas in the United States.

Nerodia paucimaculata
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Nerodia
Species:	N. paucimaculata
Binomial name
Nerodia paucimaculata (Tinkle & Conant, 1961)
Synonyms[1]
Natrix harteri paucimaculata Tinkle & Conant, 1961 Nerodia harteri paucimaculata — Conant & Collins, 1991 Nerodia paucimaculata — Densmore et al., 1992

Geographic range

Nerodia paucimaculata is found only in west-central Texas in the Colorado and Concho river systems, in Coke, Runnels, San Saba, and Tom Green Counties.

Conservation status

Due to its limited range, N. paucimaculata was considered a threatened species in the state of Texas.^[2]

Taxonomy

Nerodia paucimaculata was originally considered to be a subspecies of the Brazos water snake, N. harteri, but was elevated to full species status by Densmore et al. in 1992.^[3]

Description

The Concho water snake grows to a total length (including tail) of 16 to 32 inches (41–81 cm), and looks very much like N. harteri. However, N. paucimaculata tends to be more red in color, and has no dark markings on the underside.