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]

Japanese keelback
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Hebius
Species:
H. vibakari
Binomial name
Hebius vibakari
Synonyms

Geographic range

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

Description

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It is a small snake, growing to a maximum total length of 44 cm (17+14 in), with a tail 10 cm (3+78 in) long.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

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

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  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. ^ a b ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Hebius vibakari). www.itis.gov.
  3. ^ a b Boie, H. "Merkmale eineger japanischer Lurche". Isis von Oken (in German). 19: 203–216 [207].
  4. ^ a b "The Reptile Database: Hebius vibakari". www.reptile-database.org. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
  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.)