Hebius vibakari
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The Japanese keelback (Hebius vibakari), sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a species of colubrid snake, which is endemic to Asia. It was first described in 1826 by Heinrich Boie as Tropidonotus vibakari.
It is found in northeastern China, Japan (Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku), Korea, and Russia (Amur Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Primorsky Krai). It is a small snake, growing to a maximum total length of 44 cm (17+1⁄4 in), with a tail 10 cm (3+7⁄8 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. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inokashira Park Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Japanese Keelback sighting in Nagoya on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 7th most-seen of the 9 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and July
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Japanese Keelback in Nagoya on a given day, against under 5% in February–April, June and October–December, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Japanese Keelback sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Japanese Keelback sightings, Nagoya ranks 2nd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Busan (South Korea, about 20%).
Same family: Colubridae
The closest relatives of the Japanese Keelback that you can see in Nagoya (family Colubridae, Colubrid Snakes) are Japanese Rat Snake (about 30%) and Japanese Four-lined Ratsnake (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Japanese Keelback is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Nagoya (7 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
