Hebius modestum

Hebius modestum, commonly known as the modest keelback or Günther's keelback, is a species of natricine snake endemic to Asia.

Hebius modestum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Hebius
Species:
H. modestum
Binomial name
Hebius modestum
(Günther, 1875)
Synonyms
  • Tropidonotus modestus Günther, 1875
  • Nerodia modesta – Wall, 1923
  • Natrix modesta
    – M.A. Smith, 1943
  • Amphiesma modesta
    – Malnate, 1960
  • Paranatrix modesta
    – Mahendra, 1984
  • Amphiesma modesta
    – Cox et al., 1998[1]
  • Amphiesma modestum
    – David et al., 2007

Geographic range

It is found in Burma, Cambodia, China (especially Guangdong, Guizhou, and Yunnan), India (particularly Assam, Meghalaya),[2] northern Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Description

Adults may attain 60 cm (2 feet) in overall length; tail length 18 cm (7 inches).

Dorsally the modest keelback is olive brown with small black spots. It has a series of small yellowish spots, or a yellowish stripe, along each side of its back. The labial sutures are black. Ventrally it may be yellowish with a series of blackish spots on each side of the ventrals, or yellowish in the middle and blackish on the sides, or almost entirely blackish.

The dorsal scales are in 19 rows, weakly keeled. Ventrals 154-168; anal divided; subcaudals 96-122, also divided.[3]

Habitat

In India this species is found in forests at altitudes of 600-1,500 m (approximately 2,000-5,000 feet).[2]

References
  1. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  2. Das, I. 2002. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of India. Ralph Curtis Books. Sanibel Island, Florida. 144 pp. ISBN 0-88359-056-5. (Amphiesma modesta [sic], p. 18.)
  3. 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 modestus, p. 229 + Plate XIV., fig 3.)

Further reading
  • Cox, Merel J.; Van Dijk, Peter Paul; Nabhitabhata, Jarujin; Thirakhupt, Kumthorn (July 1998), A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, Ralph Curtis Publishing. Sanibel Island, Florida.
  • Günther, A. 1875. Second Report on Collections of Indian Reptiles obtained by the British Museum. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1875: 224–234. (Tropidonotus modestus, p. 232.)


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