Amphiesma vibakari

Amphiesma vibakari
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Natricinae
Genus: Amphiesma
Species: A. vibakari
Binomial name
Amphiesma vibakari
(H. Boie, 1826)[1]
Synonyms
  • Tropidonotus vibakari H. Boie, 1826
  • Natrix vibakari Stejneger, 1907
  • Amphiesma vibakari Malnate, 1960[2]

Amphiesma vibakari, commonly referred to as the Asian keelback, is a species of colubrid snake, which is endemic to Asia.

Geographic range

It is found in northeastern China, Japan (Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku), Korea, and Russia (Amur Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Primorsky Krai).[3]

Description

Amphiesma vibakari 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.

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.[4]

References

  1. ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). www.itis.gov.
  2. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  3. The Reptile Database.
  4. 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.)

Further reading


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