Natricine colubrid snakes (Natricinae, in the sense used by, e.g. Pyron et al., 2013; Figueroa et al., 2016; Uetz et al., 2020; equivalent to Natricidae of Zaher et al., 2009; Burbrink et al., 2020) originated in Asia ~35.0–47.1 Mya (Guo et al., 2012; Zheng & Wiens, 2016; Zaher et al., 2019; Burbrink et al., 2020), and many more extant species occur in Asia than in all other major regions (~185 vs. 65 species; Uetz et al., 2020).

Most extant natricine diversity lies north of the equator, with no evidence that natricines in the Americas ever dispersed into South America. Extant American natricines are monophyletic, and it is estimated that this lineage dispersed to North America via Beringia during the Miocene (~23 Mya; Guo et al., 2012; McVay et al., 2015). Sub-Saharan African (including Seychelles Archipelago) natricines are monophyletic and are estimated to have dispersed there during the Miocene from Asia (~43–25 Mya; Deepak et al., 2021b). The timing and number of dispersals of natricines to the east of Wallace’s Line is unknown.