| Japanese keelback | |
|---|---|
| |
| Conservation status | |
 Least Concern (IUCN 3.1) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Colubridae |
| Genus: | Hebius |
| Species: | H. vibakari |
| Binomial name | |
| Hebius vibakari (H. Boie, 1826) | |
| Synonyms | |
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.
Geographic range
It is found in northeastern China, Japan (Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku), Korea, and Russia (Amur Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Primorsky Krai).
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.
References
- 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) - ^ ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Hebius vibakari). www.itis.gov.
- ^ Boie, H. "Merkmale eineger japanischer Lurche". Isis von Oken (in German). 19: 203–216 .
- ^ "The Reptile Database: Hebius vibakari". www.reptile-database.org. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
- 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.)
| Taxon identifiers | |
|---|---|
| Hebius vibakari | |
| Amphiesma vibakari | |
| Tropidonotus vibakari | |
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