Highly variable, with morphs either solid or blotched. Thick-bodied. Strongly upturned snout. Primitive dark eye spots on neck, though obscured in darker individuals. Exaggerated defensive display of flattening neck and body, hissing, and finally playing dead. Juveniles always boldly blotched. 
Arkansas Herpetological Atlas 2019
This species is represented by 409 records from 29 sources: 303 museum (
), 0 literature (
), 0 research (
), and 71 observation (
), with 35 additional Trauth et al. (2004) locality points remaining unsourced (
). It has been museum vouchered for 61 of 75 counties (), with 6 additional counties having other forms of reported occurrence (). Years of collection range from 1855 to present.
This species occurs nearly statewide, except for portions of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain on the eastern, western, and southern flanks of Crowley’s Ridge.
