Natrix natrix

The grass snake, sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a Eurasian semi-aquatic non-venomous colubrid snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians.

Natrix natrix

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
NatrixPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.55 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.09 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 69 occurrencesPliocene — about 5 of 69 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 50 of 69 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 14 of 69 occurrences5.2–5.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.0–4.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.8–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.5–3.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.4–3.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.2–3.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.0–2.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–2.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.2–2.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.0–1.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.7–1.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.3–1.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.1–932 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences932 ka–745 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences745 ka–559 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences559 ka–373 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences373 ka–186 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences186 ka–0 Mya — about 27 occurrences3.55 Mya11.7 ka5.6 Mya0 Mya

69 occurrences of Natrix natrix on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

69 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Choremi — 37.38°N, 22.09°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°EUnterer Travertin — 50.97°N, 11.35°EOberer Travertin I — 50.97°N, 11.35°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Natrix natrix has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 64 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Natrix natrix and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Natrix natrix and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

487 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 69 sites for Natrix natrix, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

23 references

Each of the 69 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 11 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Natrix natrix

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
Juha M
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itNatrix through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758