Brown with five lighter stripes. Males uniform bronze and with enlarged, reddish cheeks during mating season. Scales smooth and shiny. Two postmental scales. Nine upper labial scales. Juveniles with more prominent contrast and bright blue tail. 
Arkansas Herpetological Atlas 2019
This species is represented by 341 records from 25 sources: 228 museum (
), 0 literature (
), 0 research (
), and 90 observation (
), with 23 additional Trauth et al. (2004) locality points remaining unsourced (
). It has been museum vouchered for 50 of 75 counties (), with 13 additional counties having other forms of reported occurrence (). Years of collection range from 1903 to present.
This species occurs statewide.
