Hebius Thompson, 1913

Guo, Peng, Zhu, Fei, Liu, Qin, Zhang, Liang, Li, Jian X., Huang, Yu Y. & Pyron, R. Alexander, 2014, A taxonomic revision of the Asian keelback snakes, genus Amphiesma (Serpentes: Colubridae: Natricinae), with description of a new species, Zootaxa 3873 (4), pp. 425-440 : 437-438

Hebius Thompson, 1913

Type species: Tropidonotus vibakari Boie, 1826

Diagnosis. Semi-aquatic snakes with keeled dorsal scales, hemipenes and sulci spermaticus simple; maxillary teeth in continuous series, gradually becoming larger posteriorly in the series or the last two teeth abruptly enlarged; internasals broad anteriorly, nostrils lateral; apical pits present or absent. Color pattern commonly consists of a series dark dots dorsolaterally, forming two longitudinal stripes.

Contents. H. andreae , H. arquus , H. atemporale , H. beddomei , H. bitaeniatum , H. boulengeri , H. celebicum , H. concelarum , H. craspedogaster , H. deschauenseei , H. flavifrons , H. frenatum , H. groundwateri , H. inas , H. ishigakiense , H. johannis , H. kerinciense , H. khasiense , H. leucomystax , H. metusium , H. miyajimae , H. modestum , H. monticola , H. nicobariense , H. octolineatum , H. optatum , H. parallelum , H. pealii , H. petersii , H. popei , H. pryeri , H. sanguineum , H. sarasinorum , H. sarawacense , H. sauteri , H. venningi , H. vibakari , H. viperinum , and H. xenura .

Notes. Species in bold are sampled in the molecular phylogeny, and confidently placed in Hebius . The remaining 23 species are placed tentatively, as this group contains the majority of morphological variation and geographic coverage of the former Amphiesma , and thus it seems likely that most of these species are allied with Hebius . However, it is possible that future studies will show that some are actually placed in Amphiesma sensu stricto or Herpetoreas . Gender of name is masculine. Several of these taxa are not monophyletic, and thus likely contain multiple cryptic species.