THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY
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Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Natricidae  

Striped Swampsnake
Liodytes alleni (Garman, 1874)
LYE-oh-DYE-teez — al-EN-ai

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

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Occurrences:; 1,620 Total; 1,118 Museum; 502 Other
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Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH. - (Version: 2023.04.09.21.41.44)
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: Florida Georgia

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for a prominent American zoologist.
Liodytes — From Greek leios (λεῖος), “smooth,” and dytes (δύτης), “diver.” The name means “smooth diver,” referring to the snake’s aquatic habits and smooth scales.
alleni — A patronym honoring Joel Asaph Allen (1838–1921), a prominent American zoologist and ornithologist who worked at the American Museum of Natural History.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Allen's Snake (Helicops alleni: 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); Florida Swamp Snake (Liodytes alleni: 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.); Allen's Mud Snake (Liodytes alleni: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Allen's Mud Snake (Liodytes alleni alleni: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); South Florida Mud Snake (Liodytes alleni lineapiatus: 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:
1874 Garman, Samuel. Description of a new species of North American serpent. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 17:92-94
1963 Rossman, Douglas A. Relationships and taxonomic status of the North American Natricine snake genera Liodytes, Regina, and Clonophis. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, Louisiana State University (29):
1983 Price, Robert. Microdermatoglyphics: The Liodytes-Regina problem. Journal of Herpetology 17(3):292-294
2002 Ernst, Carl H., J. Whitfield Gibbons, and Michael E. Dorcas. Regina. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (756):1-4
2003 Dorcas, Michael E., Poppy, Sean M., Ernst, Carl H., and Gibbons, J. Whitfield. Regina alleni. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (778):1-4
2013 McVay, John David and Bryan Carstens. Testing monophyly without well-supported gene trees: Evidence from multi-locus nuclear data conficts with existing taxonomy in the snake tribe Thamnophiini. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 68:425-431

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 10 August 2026 03:05 CT