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Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Natricidae  
Brazos Watersnake
Nerodia harteri (Trapido, 1941)
NEH-roh-DEE-uh — HAR-ter-eye
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SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 The English name was changed from "Brazos River Watersnake" to align it with the Concho Watersnake. (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.)

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Open icons indicate questionable records, including those with coordinate uncertainty greater than 10,000 m (approximately 6 miles). Click a marker to view metadata.
Occurrences:; 777 Total; 674 Museum; 103 Other

The locality database contains 8,094,832 records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Logged-in, registered users may report a potential issue directly from the marker popup.
Shaded range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH. (Version: 2023.04.10.07.49.10)
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named in honor of a U.S. collector.
Nerodia — From Greek neron (νερόν), meaning “water,” and possibly hodos (ὁδός), meaning “path” or “way,” though the construction is irregular. The name alludes to the aquatic nature of these snakes.
harteri — A patronym honoring Philip Harter (1887-1971) of Palo Pinto County, Texas, the collector of the holotype, reflecting his contributions to discovering and documenting this Texas-endemic snake.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Harter's Water Snake (Natrix harteri: 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.); Brazos Water Snake (Natrix harteri: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);


Selected References:
1938 Clay, William M. A synopsis of the North American water snakes of the genus Natrix. Copeia 1938(4):173-182
1941 Trapido, Harold. A new species of Natrix from Texas. The American Midland Naturalist 25(3):673-680
1972 Baker, Robert J., George A. Mengden, and James J. Bull. Karyotypic studies of thirty-eight species of North American snakes . Copeia 1972(2):257-265
1983 Mecham, John S. Nerodia harteri.. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (330):1-2
1987 Lawson, Robin. Molecular Studies of Thamnophiine Snakes: 1. The Phylogeny of the Genus Nerodia. Journal of Herpetology 21(2):140-157
1991 Collins, Joseph T. Viewpoint: A new taxonomic arrangement for some North American amphibins and reptiles. Herpetological Review 22(2):42-43
1992 Densmore, Llewellyn D., III, Francis L. Rose, and Stephanie J. Kain. Mitochondrial DNA evolution and speciation in water snakes (genus Nerodia) with special reference to Nerodia harteri. Herpetologica 48(1):60-68
2014 Crother, Brian I. The bold taxonomic hypotheses of Collins (1991): 23 years later. Herpetological Review 45(2):268-272

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