Hebius khasiensis (BOULENGER, 1890)
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Hebius khasiensis
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Natricinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Khasi Hills Keelback, Khasi Keelback G: Khasi Hills Gebirgswassernatter Chinese: 卡西腹链蛇 |
| Synonym | Tropidonotus khasiensis BOULENGER 1890 Tropidonotus khasiensis — BOULENGER 1893: 223 Tropidonotus khasiensis — WALL 1908: 316 Natrix khasiensis — WALL 1923 Natrix khasiensis — BOURRET 1935: 2 Natrix khasiensis — SMITH 1943: 289 Amphiesma khasiensis MALNATE 1960 Paranatrix modesta — MAHENDRA 1984 Amphiesma khasiensis — DAS 1996: 53 Amphiesma khasiense — ZIEGLER et al. 2006 Amphiesma khasiensis — SHARMA 2004 Amphiesma khasienseis — ZHAO 2006 (in error) Amphiesma cf. khasiense — GRISMER et al. 2007 Amphiesma khasiense — DAVID et al. 2013: 306 Hebius khasiense — GUO et al. 2014 Amphiesma khasiense — WALLACH et al. 2014: 30 Amphiesma khasiense — CHAN-ARD et al. 2015: 233 Hebius hasiensis — HIKIDA 2015 (in error) Hebius khasiensis — ZHOU et al. 2019 Hebius khasiensis — BOHRA et al. 2025: 474 |
| Distribution | India (Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland), Myanmar (= Burma), Laos (Oudômxay, Phôngsali), Vietnam ?, Thailand, China (Yunnan, Xizang = Tibet), Cambodia Type locality: Khasi Hills, India |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: BMNH 1946.1.12.80, an adult female, designated by Bohra et al. 2025 (Fig. 4.); Syntype: BMNH 1946.1.13.62, male (fide Nguyen et al. 2024) Paralectotypes: BMNH 1946.1.12.81 and BMNH1946.1.12.82, two adult males bear the same collection details as the lectotype; BMNH 1946.1.13.45, a juvenile female collected by Sir J. Hooker from the same locality as the lectotype ((Fig. 5 in Bohra et al.) Additional topotypic and referred materials: MZMU 3526 (Fig. 6), an adult female collected by Sanath Chandra Bohra and Holiness Warjri on 12th April 2024 at around 21:45 h from Mairang, Eastern West Khasi Hills district (25.559415°N, 91.635047° E; 1564 m asl), Meghalaya, India; MZMU2810, MZMU2973, MZMU3239, all adult females collected by H.T. Lalremsanga, Lal Biakzuala and others from Tamdil National Wetland (23.728665°N, 92.956578°E), Aizawl district, Mizoram, India; MZMU2706, a juvenile female collected by H.T. Lalremsanga, Lal Biakzuala and others from Theiriat (22.868358°N, 92.788137°E), Lunglei district, Mizoram, India; MZMU2540, an adult female collected by H.T. Lalremsanga, Lal Biakzuala and others from Sailam (23.350624°N, 92.797968°E), Aizawl district, Mizoram, India; MZMU2096, an adult female collected by H.T. Lalremsanga, Lal Biakzuala and others from Durtlang (23.795506°N, 92.726469°E), Aizawl district, Mizoram, India; MZMU1304, an adult female collected by H.T. Lalremsanga, Lal Biakzuala and others from Reiek (23.677444°N, 92.603713°E), Aizawl district, Mizoram, India; MZMU1531, an adult female collected by H.T. Lalremsanga, Lal Biakzuala and others from Sawleng (23.981553°N, 92.930910°E), Aizawl district, Mizoram, India; MZMU923, an adult male by H.T. Lalremsanga, Lal Biakzuala and others from Durtlang (23.795506°N, 92.726469°E), Aizawl district, Mizoram, India. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. A species of the genus Amphiesma characterized by the combination of (1) body slender in males and females; (2) nostrils directed laterally; (3) 21–26 maxillary teeth, gradually enlarged, the last 2 or 3 moderately enlarged; (4) 19 dorsal scale rows at midbody, strongly keeled at the exception of scales the 1st dorsal scale row, smooth or weakly keeled on the anterior half of the body, weakly or distinctly keeled posteriorly; (5) dorsal pattern made of a series of reddish-brown or rusty dots or small blotches, usually aligned on a faint dorsolateral stripe; (6) each of the three or four posterior supralabials with a large, white, cream or ivory, rounded, subrectangular, triangular or vertically oval blotch, or, rarely, nearly entirely cream or ivory with dark edges; (7) pattern of the neck usually made of isolated rounded blotches, sometimes partly connected by a narrow pale line; (8) venter ivory or cream, with the outer quarter of each ventral dark brown, separated from the dark dorsal colour by a narrow pale line; (9) eye large, 1.8–2.8 times the distance between the lower margins of eye and of lip; (10) 141–155 VEN, 87– 111 SC; (11) internasals abruptly truncated anteriorly; (12) 9 (rarely 8) supralabials; (13) 1 anterior (rarely 2) temporals. A. khasiense, A. boulengeri and A. inas are morphologically similar. (David et al. 2013) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. However, these details, e.g. detailed descriptions (about less than half a page) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material. |
| Comment | Synonymy: Natrix gilhodesi WALL 1925: 805 was synonymized with khasiensis until Bohra et al. 2025 revalidated it. Similar species: H. boulengeri, H. modestum, H. gilhodesi. Records of “Amphiesma khasiense” from eastern and southern Laos found in the literature (Smith 1943; Deuve 1970) refer to Hebius boulengeri or H. gilhodesi. There seem to be no clear differences between A. khasiense and A. modestum (GRISMER et al. 2007). Distribution: possibly in Bhutan (Lenz 2012). See map in Nguyen et al. 2024: 176 (Fig. 7). Present in Vietnam fide Vogel & Wogan 2021, but not in Vietnam fide Le e tal. 2026. Specimens from Vietnam have been described as Hebius ngoclinhensis Le et al. 2026. However, Le et al. only provide a map of localities around the type locality of ngoclinhensis, but no information about other specimens. |
| Etymology | Named after the type locality. |
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