Japanese_keelback

Japanese keelback

Japanese keelback

Species of snake

The Japanese keelback (Hebius vibakari), sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a species of colubrid snake, which is endemic to Asia. It was first described in 1826 by Heinrich Boie as Tropidonotus vibakari.[2][3]

Quick Facts Conservation status, Scientific classification ...

Geographic range

It is found in northeastern China, Japan (Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku), Korea, and Russia (Amur Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Primorsky Krai).[4]

Description

It is a small snake, growing to a maximum total length of 44 cm (17+1⁄4 in), with a tail 10 cm (3+7⁄8 in) long.

Dorsally it is olive or reddish brown, with small blackish spots. Some specimens may have a dark olive or blackish vertebral stripe. The upper labials are yellow, with black sutures. On each side of the nape of the neck there is a yellow dark-edged diagonal streak, these two streaks converging posteriorly. Ventrally it is yellow, with a series of brown dots or short lines at the outer ends of the ventral scales.

Dorsal scales strongly keeled (except outer row), arranged in 19 rows at midbody. Ventrals 127–151; anal plate divided; subcaudals divided 59–79.[5]

References

  1. [1]
    Borzee, A., Kidera, N., Borkin, L., Orlov, N.L. & Working Group. (2021). "Hebius vibakari". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T192162A2049133. Retrieved 20 November 2021.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. [2]
    ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Hebius vibakari). www.itis.gov.
  3. [3]
    Boie, H. "Merkmale eineger japanischer Lurche". Isis von Oken (in German). 19: 203–216 [207].
  4. [4]
    "The Reptile Database: Hebius vibakari". www.reptile-database.org. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
  5. [5]
    Boulenger, G.A. 1893.Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families...Colubridæ Aglyphæ, Part. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). London. xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I.-XXVIII. (Tropidonotus vibakari, pp. 221-222.)


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