Japanese Keelback

Fascinating facts about the Japanese Keelback

• A 1826 paper by Heinrich Boie first introduced this snake to science, naming it Tropidonotus vibakari before it settled into its current genus. The early discovery shows how European naturalists were already cataloguing East Asian wildlife nearly two centuries ago.
• Spanning four countries, China, Japan, Korea, and Russia, its range stretches from the islands of Honshu to the Russian Far East. This cross-border distribution links temperate forests and riverbanks across a continent-wide corridor.
• At just 44 cm long, with a 10 cm tail, it fits comfortably on a ruler.
• Its back is painted olive or reddish-brown with tiny black spots, while a pair of yellow, dark-edged streaks on the neck meet at the back of the head.
• The snake’s belly bears 127–151 ventral scales and 59–79 divided subcaudal scales, all set in 19 rows of strongly keeled scales along the midbody.

At a glance

About the Japanese Keelback

The Japanese keelback, Hebius vibakari, is a diminutive colubrid that rarely exceeds 44 cm in total length, its tail accounting for about a quarter of that measure. Its dorsal surface is olive or reddish-brown, dotted with tiny blackish spots, and some individuals display a dark vertebral stripe. A pair of yellow, dark-edged diagonal streaks are present on either side of the neck, converging toward the rear, and the upper labial scales are yellow with black sutures. Ventrally it is yellow, mottled with brown dots or short lines at the outer edges of each scale. The scales are strongly keeled, except for the outermost row, arranged in nineteen rows at mid-body, with 127–151 ventrals and 59–79 divided subcaudals. It is found in northeastern China, Japan (Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku), Korea, and Russia (Amur Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Primorsky Krai).

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