Regina (snake)

Regina is a genus of semiaquatic natricine colubrid snakes known as crayfish snakes, named after their primary choice of diet. The genus consists of two species which are found in the eastern and central United States.

Regina
Regina septemvittata, queen snake
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Natricinae
Genus:	Regina Baird & Girard, 1853

Species

The following two species are recognized as being valid.^[1]

• Regina grahamii Baird & Girard, 1853 – Graham's crayfish snake
• Regina septemvittata (Say, 1825) – queen snake

Description

Both species in the genus Regina have keeled dorsal scales in 19 rows at midbody, and a divided anal plate. The crayfish snakes of the genus Regina have smaller heads than the water snakes of the genus Nerodia.^[2]

References

1. Genus Regina at The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
2. Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT (2016). Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiv + 494 pp., 47 plates, 207 figures. ISBN 978-0-544-12997-9. (Genus Regina, p. 422).

Further reading

• Baird SF, Girard C (1853). Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part I.—Serpents. Washington, District of Columbia: Smithsonian Institution. xvi + 172 pp. (Regina, new genus, p. 45).