Amphiesma genus of colubrid snakes , commonly known as keelbacks because of their keeled dorsal scales. They are all nonvenomous.
Amphiesma species occur in southern and eastern Asia, including Siberia, Korea, China, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Indonesia.
The following 42 species are recognized:
Amphiesma andreae Ziegler & Le, 2006 - Andrea's keelbackAmphiesma arquus David & G. Vogel, 2010 Amphiesma atemporale (Bourret, 1934) Amphiesma beddomei (Günther, 1864) - Nilgiri keelbackAmphiesma bitaeniatum (Wall, 1925) Amphiesma boulengeri (Gressitt, 1937) Amphiesma celebicum (W. Peters & Doria, 1878) Amphiesma concelarum Malnate, 1963 Amphiesma craspedogaster (Boulenger, 1899) Amphiesma deschauenseei (Taylor, 1934) Amphiesma flavifrons (Boulenger, 1887) - white-fronted water snakeAmphiesma frenatum Dunn, 1923 Amphiesma groundwateri (M.A. Smith, 1922) Amphiesma inas (Laidlaw, 1901) Amphiesma ishigakiense (Malnate & Munsterman, 1960) Amphiesma johannis (Boulenger, 1908) Amphiesma kerinciense David & Das, 2003 Amphiesma khasiense (Boulenger, 1890) - Khasi Hills keelbackAmphiesma leucomystax David et al., 2007 - white-lipped keelbackAmphiesma metusia Inger et al., 1990 Amphiesma miyajimae (Maki, 1931) Amphiesma modestum (Günther, 1875) - modest keelbackAmphiesma monticola (Jerdon , 1853) - hill keelback or Wayanad keelbackAmphiesma nicobariense (Sclater, 1891) - Nicobar Island keelbackAmphiesma octolineatum (Boulenger, 1904) Amphiesma optatum (Hu & Zhao, 1966) Amphiesma parallelum (Boulenger, 1890) - Yunnan keelbackAmphiesma pealii (Sclater, 1891) - Assam keelbackAmphiesma petersii (Boulenger, 1893) Amphiesma platyceps (Blyth, 1854) - Himalayan keelbackAmphiesma popei (Schmidt, 1925) Amphiesma pryeri (Boulenger, 1887) Amphiesma sanguineum (Smedley, 1931) Amphiesma sarasinorum (Boulenger, 1896) Amphiesma sarawacense (Günther, 1872) Amphiesma sauteri (Boulenger, 1909) Amphiesma sieboldii (Günther, 1860) - Sikkim keelbackAmphiesma stolatum (Linnaeus , 1758) - buff striped keelbackAmphiesma venningi (Wall, 1910) Amphiesma vibakari (H. Boie, 1826) - Asian keelbackAmphiesma viperinum (Schenkel, 1901) Amphiesma xenura (Wall, 1907) - Wall's keelback
Nota bene : A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Amphiesma .
In 2014 Guo et al. placed most species of Amphiesma in the genus Hebius . One exception is Amphiesma stolatum , which they kept in the genus Amphiesma .
