Japanese Keelback

Japanese Keelback (Hebius vibakari) is a small Asian colubrid also called the ringed or water snake, recognised through keeled scales and a slender build. Identification should combine documented pattern, scalation, body form and locality because related Japanese reptiles may be very similar. Claims here are limited to the opened species accounts (Wikipedia, general species account; Reptile Database). Field identification should therefore remain cautious wherever photographs or diagnostic measurements are unavailable.

It is endemic to Asia and has a long taxonomic history beginning with its 1826 description; detailed Japanese habitat, diet and reproduction are omitted because the opened account was sparse. Information absent from those species-level sources is omitted rather than inferred from relatives. Japanese occurrence follows the site's catalogue and the opened distribution accounts (Wikipedia, general species account; Reptile Database).