Japanese keelback

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
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Hebius
Species:	H. vibakari
Binomial name
Hebius vibakari (H. Boie, 1826)[2][3]
Synonyms
Tropidonotus vibakari H. Boie, 1826 Natrix vibakari – Stejneger, 1907 Amphiesma vibakari – Malnate, 1960[4]

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.^{[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]