diff --git a/_nx_cugraph/__init__.py b/_nx_cugraph/__init__.py
index 2c899f855..6b905e8db 100644
--- a/_nx_cugraph/__init__.py
+++ b/_nx_cugraph/__init__.py
@@ -342,16 +342,21 @@ def update_env_var(varname):
     return d
 
 
-def _check_networkx_version() -> tuple[int, int] | tuple[int, int, int]:
+def _check_networkx_version(nx_version=None) -> tuple[int, int] | tuple[int, int, int]:
     """Check the version of networkx and return ``(major, minor)`` version tuple."""
     import re
     import warnings
 
     import networkx as nx
 
-    version_major, version_minor, *version_bug = nx.__version__.split(".")[:3]
+    if nx_version is None:
+        nx_version = nx.__version__
+    version_major, version_minor, *version_bug = nx_version.split(".")[:3]
     if has_bug := bool(version_bug):
         version_bug = version_bug[0]
+        if "dev" in version_bug:
+            # For example: "3.5rc0.dev0" should give (3, 5)
+            has_bug = False
     if version_major != "3":
         warnings.warn(
             f"nx-cugraph version {__version__} is only known to work with networkx "
diff --git a/nx_cugraph/tests/test_version.py b/nx_cugraph/tests/test_version.py
index c45702b60..0a7985f2a 100644
--- a/nx_cugraph/tests/test_version.py
+++ b/nx_cugraph/tests/test_version.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # Copyright (c) 2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 
+import pytest
+
+import _nx_cugraph
 import nx_cugraph
 
 
@@ -10,3 +13,27 @@ def test_version_constants_are_populated():
     # __version__ should always be non-empty
     assert isinstance(nx_cugraph.__version__, str)
     assert len(nx_cugraph.__version__) > 0
+
+
+def test_nx_ver():
+    assert _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version() == nx_cugraph._nxver
+    assert _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version("3.4") == (3, 4)
+    assert _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version("3.4.2") == (3, 4, 2)
+    assert _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version("3.4rc0") == (3, 4)
+    assert _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version("3.4.2rc1") == (3, 4, 2)
+    assert _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version("3.5rc0.dev0") == (3, 5)
+    assert _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version("3.5.1rc0.dev0") == (3, 5, 1)
+    assert _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version("3.5.dev0") == (3, 5)
+    assert _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version("3.5.1.dev0") == (3, 5, 1)
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="not enough values to unpack"):
+        _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version("3")
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeWarning, match="does not work with networkx version"):
+        _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version("3.4bad")
+    with pytest.warns(
+        UserWarning, match="only known to work with networkx versions 3.x"
+    ):
+        assert _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version("2.2") == (2, 2)
+    with pytest.warns(
+        UserWarning, match="only known to work with networkx versions 3.x"
+    ):
+        assert _nx_cugraph._check_networkx_version("4.2") == (4, 2)