| modest keelback | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Colubridae |
| Subfamily: | Natricinae |
| Genus: | Amphiesma |
| Species: | A. modestum |
| Binomial name | |
| Amphiesma modestum (Günther, 1875) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Tropidonotus modestus Günther, 1875 |
|
The modest keelback (Amphiesma modestum) is a species of snake found in India (particularly Assam), Burma, northern Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and China (especially Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangdong).
Adults 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, subcaudals 96-122, anal divided.[1]