identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
383AEC41FF89FFE6FF6AFF29FE9FC8DA.text	383AEC41FF89FFE6FF6AFF29FE9FC8DA.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Hebius venningi (Wall 1910)	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> 1.  Hebius venningi (Wall, 1910)</p>
            <p>(Figs. 1–2)</p>
            <p> Tropidonotus venningi Wall, 1910: 345 .— </p>
            <p> Type locality. “Haka Chin Hills”, now  Hakha , Hakha District, Chin State, Myanmar.—  Holotype. BMNH 1946.1.21.86 (formerly BM 1910.1.4.6), adult male; collected by F. E. W. Venning, September or October 1908.</p>
            <p> Tropidonotus venningi . — Venning 1911: 773; Werner 1929: 15 &amp; 24 (in part). </p>
            <p> Natrix venningi .— Wall 1923: 601; Wall 1925c: 921; Wall 1926: 560 (in part); Bourret 1936b: 55 (in part: only the mention of “ Birmanie ”); Smith 1943: 285 &amp; 286 (in part). </p>
            <p> Amphiesma venningi .— Malnate 1960: 51, 52 &amp; 57; Dowling &amp; Jenner 1988: 9 (in part); Welch 1988: 34; Zhao &amp; Adler 1993: 228 (in part; only for the record from “ Burma ”); Iskandar &amp; Colijn 2001: 98 (in part: except the mention from China); Captain &amp; Bhatt 2002: 354, 355, 356: Fig. 1–4; Das 2002: 19 (text: in part; figure: genuine  H. venningi depicted); Mathew &amp; Meetei 2004: 135; Whitaker &amp; Captain 2004: 214 (in part), 215–217 (figures); Whitaker 2006: 112; Zhao 2006: 174 &amp; 175 (in part; only for the record of Myanmar); David et al. 2007: 54 (in part) &amp; 60 (in part: specimens from Chin State, Myanmar); Sharma 2007: 206 &amp; 207 (in part); Das 2010: 152: Pl. 68: Fig. 7 (genuine  H. venningi depicted) &amp; 335 (in part: at the exception of the mention of China, Yunnan Province); Das 2012: 118 (text: in part; figure: genuine  H. venningi depicted) &amp; 151; Wallach et al. 2014: 33 (in part: only mentions from Arunachal Pradesh, India, and Chin State, Myanmar). </p>
            <p> Paranatrix venningi .— Mahendra 1984: 245. </p>
            <p> Hebius venningi .— Guo et al. 2014: 431 &amp; 438 (citations on pages 428 and 429 refer to other species; see below); Das &amp; Das 2017: 126 (text: in part; figure: genuine  H. venningi depicted) &amp; 168; Boundy 2020: 92. </p>
            <p> Amphiesma vinningi [sic]).— Ahmed et al. 2009: 155. </p>
            <p> Natrix venningi venningi . — Smith 1940: 483 [as “the typical form”]; Smith 1943: 286 (in part: at the exception of specimens from “Nam-ti Valley”). </p>
            <p> Amphiesma venningi venningi .— Welch 1988: 34; Zhao et al. 1998: 90 (in part); Captain &amp; Bhatt 2002: 354 &amp; 355; Zhao 2006: 175 (in part); Sharma 2007: 207 (in part: mention from Chin State). </p>
            <p> Paranatrix venningi venningi .— Mahendra 1984: 245. </p>
            <p> Amphiesma cf. modestum (nec  Tropidonotus modestus G̹nther, 1875).— Ahmed et al. 2009: 155. </p>
            <p>
                 Specimens examined (14).—   Myanmar. Chin State. BMNH 1946.1.21.86 (ex BM 1910.1.4.6; holotype of  Tropidonotus venningi ); BMNH 1946.1.13.42 (ex BM 1910.12.9.1); BMNH 1946.1.13.49, BNHS 1316–1320, “Haka, Chin Hills”, now Hakha, 22°38’60”N, 93°37’00”E, Hakha District;   CAS 235175,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">Shawn Khyak</a>
                 stream, near  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">Ahone village</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">Mindat Township</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">Mindat District</a>
                 , 21°18’40.3”N, 93°45’31.9”E, 3,255 ft;   CAS 233206, Chun Kyone,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">Hakha Township</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">Hakha District</a>
                 , 22°46’38.5”N, 93°33’55.7”E, 5,360 ft;   CAS 234777, a small stream,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">Kanpetlet town</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">northern Kanpetlet Township</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">Mindat District</a>
                 , 21°11’55.7”N, 94°03’34.0”E, 4,062 ft;   CAS 235376–235377, Maw stream, near  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">Myin village</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">Mindat Township</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">Mindat District</a>
                 , 21°36’34.8”N, 93°53’07.3”E, 3,040 ft.  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.88536/lat 21.609667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.88536&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.609667">Naga Self-Administered Zone</a>
                 (or Sagaing Region)  .   CAS 245379, Laung Nguk village,  Lahe Township , 26 090’17.8”N, 95 31’17.3”E, 2,857 ft. 
            </p>
            <p> Taxonomic comments.—This species was first mentioned in the literature by Venning (1910: 340) on the basis of two specimens, “Nos XXXV and XXXVI”, referred to the genus  Tropidonotus but which Venning did not formally name. It was then formally described in a subsequent paper of the same volume by Wall (1910: 345). Although this species was described on the basis of two specimens, Wall (1910) considered the specimen deposited in London (specimen BMNH 1946.1.21.86; formerly BM 1910.1.4.6) to be the holotype (“the type”, according to Wall) whereas the second specimen, considered to be a paratype (the “cotype”) was reported by Wall (1910) to be deposited in collections of the Bombay Natural History Society. In contrast, Wallach et al. (2014: 34) recognized three syntypes: (1) BMNH 1946.1.21.86, considered to be the holotype by Wall (1910), (2) BMNH 1946.1.13.49, a juvenile, considered to be the “co-type” by Wall (1910), previously deposited in the collections of the Bombay Natural History Society (Mumbai, India), and (3) BMNH 1946.1.13.60. This latter specimen is in fact the holotype of  Natrix nigriventer Wall, 1925 , here recognized as a valid species; it has been collected in June 1924 and cannot belong to the type series of a species described in 1910. </p>
            <p> Hebius venningi has long been divided into two subspecies, the nominative one and  Natrix venningi taronensis Smith, 1940 . On the basis of the differences in morphology of these two taxa discussed below and of their allopatric distributions, we consider them to be distinct at the specific level (see below). This position had been previously adopted in 2009 in the list of snakes of Myanmar provided on the website of the California Academy of Sciences: </p>
            <p> (http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/herpetology/myanmar/project.html; accessed on July 20 th 2014). The validity of  Hebius taronensis at full species status was eventually accepted by Das (2010: 335; as  Amphiesma taronense ).  Hebius venningi is thus a monotypic species. </p>
            <p> Furthermore, Wall (1925: 588) described  Natrix nigriventer from the vicinity of Bhamo, in Kachin State, Myanmar, but Wall (1926) synonymized it with  Natrix venningi . This position was followed by Smith (1943). On the basis of our specimens at hand, we consider this taxon to be distinct from both  H. venningi and  H. taronensis and we resurrect it below at full species status. </p>
            <p> There has been some confusion about the distribution of this species, especially in India. Gayen (2002) recorded a specimen from the Jaintia (or Jayanyia) Hills, State of Meghalaya, in Northeast India, a record mentioned by Whitaker &amp; Captain (2004: 214), but Mathew &amp; Meetei (2004) showed that the specimen was misidentified and should be referred to  Hebius xenura (Wall) . Captain &amp; Bhatt (2002) published the first authenticated record of  Hebius venningi from India, on the basis of five specimens collected near Gandhigram (also called Shidi), Changlang District, State of Arunachal Pradesh. These authors noted that four of these specimens (specimens #2–5) could be referred to “  Amphiesma venningi venningi ” as defined by Smith (1940; 1943) whereas specimen #1, with 104 subcaudals only, agreed with the description of “  Amphiesma venningi taronense (Smith, 1940) ”. Nevertheless, Captain &amp; Bhatt (2002) considered all the specimens to be “the same kind of animal” and referred them to as  Amphiesma venningi venningi . </p>
            <p> This mix of specimens of two “subspecies” in a single locality and a comparison of their subcaudal counts with those of specimens of “  A. venningi ” from Yunnan led Captain &amp; Bhatt (2002) to consider that the number of subcaudals was not a reliable character and that the validity of the subspecies  taronensis was doubtful. In fact, these authors were not aware of the description of  Hebius nigriventer (Wall, 1925) , a species resurrected below after having long been confused with  H. taronensis and which occurs in Yunnan. While females of  H. nigriventer may have the same number of subcaudals than  H. taronensis , these species clearly differ from each other by several characters detailed below. On the basis of data and pictures published by Captain &amp; Bhatt (2002) and Whitaker &amp; Captain (2004), we agree with these authors in referring four of their five specimens to  Hebius venningi sensu stricto as defined here. Although the ventrolateral blotches depicted in Whitaker &amp; Captain (2004: 356, Fig. 4) and the venter largely pale (orange in life) along much of its length are not present in the holotype and several other examined specimens, these characters also appear in specimens from Myanmar, for example, CAS 245379. Furthermore, the dorsal pattern (including head), the dorsal scalation, the numbers of ventrals, and the number of subcaudals of two specimens with a complete tail are typical of  H. venningi . In contrast, we here refer specimen #1, with 104 subcaudals, to  Hebius taronensis on the basis that (1) its number of subcaudals does not agree with that of  H. venningi but perfectly fits that of  H. taronensis , (2) Captain &amp; Bhatt (2002) would have noticed the peculiar dorsal and ventral patterns of  H. nigriventer , and (3) Changlang District is less than 50 kilometres from the region of Putao, type locality of  Hebius taronensis . </p>
            <p> Thanks to the courtesy of A. Das, who communicated us additional unpublished pictures and data (pers. comm., August 2019), we identify as  Hebius venningi the specimen from Mizoram (India) depicted by Ahmed et al. (2009: 154) as  Amphiesma cf. modestum . These authors thus published the first record of  H. venningi from the State of Mizoram in Northeast India. Subsequently, Lalbiakzuala &amp; Lalremsanga (2019) also published a record of “  H. venningi ” from the State of Mizoram. However, this specimen is referable to another species, the status of which will be discussed elsewhere. </p>
            <p> H. venningi has also been recorded from Bangladesh by Reza (2010). However, pictures and morphological data of their specimen make clear that it is a  Hebius xenura . So there is currently no record of this species from Bangladesh. Lastly, other records from Yunnan, China (Kou 1985; Zhao &amp; Adler 1993; Zhao et al. 1998; Zhao 2006), not cited above in the chresonymy, should now be referred to  Hebius nigriventer (Wall, 1925) , a species that is resurrected below from its synonymy with  H. venningi . Lastly, the locality cited by Smith (1943) as Bhamo Valley, in Kachin State, northern Myanmar, now also refers to  Hebius nigriventer . As a consequence,  H. venningi is currently restricted to extreme north-eastern India and western and north-western Myanmar. </p>
            <p> Diagnosis.—A moderately to large sized species of the genus  Hebius characterized by the combination of (1) 17–18-17-16–17 dorsal scale rows, moderately keeled at midbody, strongly keeled posteriorly but 1 st DSR smooth; (2) scales around the base of the tail strongly keeled; (3) head moderately distinct from the neck; (4) eye rather large; (5) maxillary teeth 28–30, the last two moderately enlarged; (6) tail long, with a ratio TaL/TL usually&gt; 0.30; (7) VEN 155–172; (8) SC 115–129; (9) prefrontal scales 2; (10) anterior temporal rectangular, narrowing anteriorly; (11) venter never entirely dark along the whole length of the body: venter pale yellowish-grey or pale yellowishbrown (usually pink or coral-red in life, sometimes dark yellow) mesially, at least on the anterior part of the body, with outer parts of ventrals heavily and broadly clouded with darker hues of brown or dark brown; these dark areas extend progressively more widely inwards giving a dark, clouded venter posteriorly; (12) dorsum and sides olivebrown, olive-grey, dark grey, brown to dark brown or sometimes blackish-brown (same in preservative and in life); (13) dorsal surface distinctly chequered by the presence on sides and upper part of the body of diffuse, elongate or rectangular blackish-brown or very dark grey blotches; (14) a dorsolateral series of irregular blotches, yellow-ochre or yellowish-brown (brighter yellow-ochre or yellowish-brown in life), enlarged and forming a chain on the first quarter to third of the body, progressively smaller, usually vanishing after midbody; (15) a dark postocular streak usually present; and (16) an ochre-yellow or yellowish-brown streak on each side of the neck and nape forming an incomplete collar. </p>
            <p>Description.—Body rather slender, stouter in large females, cylindrical; the head is somewhat elongate, subrectangular, moderately distinct from the thick neck, flattened anteriorly; snout elongate, obtuse as seen from above, oblique seen in profile, flat, 19.5–20.5 % of HL, or 1.6–2.0 times longer than diameter of eye; nostrils placed dorsolaterally on the snout and directed slightly dorsolaterally, small, round, piercing in the middle of the nasal; eye rather large, about 1.2–1.8 times greater than the distance between its lower margin and the margin of the lip, with a round pupil; tail long and tapering.</p>
            <p>The maximal known total length is 780 mm (SVL 550 mm; TaL 230 mm; specimen #1 of Captain &amp; Bhatt [2002], probably a female). The longest known male is 658 mm long (SVL 430 mm, TaL 228 mm long; BMNH 1946.1.21.86, holotype).</p>
            <p>Ratio TaL/TL: 0.295 –0.347, without sexual dimorphism.</p>
            <p>Dentition. 28–30 maxillary teeth gradually enlarging, the last 2 moderately enlarged, without diastema.</p>
            <p>Body scalation. DSR: 17–18-17-16–17 rows; scales rhomboedric, moderately keeled at midbody, more strongly keeled posteriorly; scales of 1 st DSR smooth; dorsal scales around the base of the tail strongly keeled.</p>
            <p>In our sample of 14 specimens, two have 18 scale rows around the neck; two others have 16 scale rows before vent; all others have 17–17–17 dorsal scale rows throughout the body.</p>
            <p>VEN: 155–172 (plus 1 or 2 preventrals); SC: 115–129, all paired, without sexual dimorphism; cloacal plate divided.</p>
            <p>Ratio VEN/SC 1.24–1.54.</p>
            <p>Position of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail: SC 6–24, with a strong sexual dimorphism (see below); ratio: length of the portion of tail with 6 dorsal scale rows/length of the portion of tail with 4 dorsal scale rows: 1.0–2.5 with a sexual dimorphism.</p>
            <p>Head scalation. Arrangement of upper head scales complete including 2 internasals, 2 prefrontals, 2 supraoculars, 1 frontal, and 2 parietals. Rostral wider than high, barely visible from above; nasals subrectangular, elongate, about 1.4–1.6 times longer than high, vertically divided above and below the nostril, with the posterior part equal to anterior one; internasals subtriangular, in broad contact with each other, about 0.9–1.2 times longer than wide, moderately narrowing anteriorly with an anterior margin about 0.5–0.6 times the width of the posterior margin; 2 prefrontals, rather small, short but wide, distinctly broader than long, 1.1–1.2 times longer than internasals; frontal large, shield-like, 1.2–1.3 times longer than wide and 2.0–2.4 times longer than prefrontal; 1 supraocular on each side, subtriangular, 2.0–2.4 longer than wide, about as wide as internasals; parietals large and broad, 1.4–1.6 times longer than the frontal, or suture between parietals 1.1–1.2 times longer than frontal; 1/1 loreal, pentagonal, elongate, 1.3–1.5 times longer than high, in broad contact with the nasal; 1 or more commonly 2 preoculars, upper one larger than lower one; 3 small postoculars in all examined specimens; 9/9 SL (8/ 8 in one specimen only), the first five as long as high or longer than high, 1 st and 2 nd SL small and short, in contact with the nasal, 2 nd– 3 rd SL or 2 nd– 4 th SL in contact with the loreal, 4 th– 6 th or 5 th– 6 th SL entering orbit, 7 th and 8 th SL largest; 1 anterior temporal, rectangular, elongate, narrowing anteriorly, followed by 1 or 1+1/1 posterior temporals, the most common formula being 1+1 temporals; 9 or 10 (11 in only 1/18 occurrences, namely in adding the values met on each side) infralabials, first pair in contact, 1 st– 5 th IL in contact with anterior chin shields, 5 th and 6 th IL largest; posterior chin shields longer than anterior ones.</p>
            <p>Coloration and pattern. The dorsal surface and sides are olive-grey, olive-brown, greyish-brown, dark grey, brown, dark brown or sometimes blackish-brown, darker on the top than on the sides of the body, with scales indistinctly edged or speckled with very dark brown; dorsum with a chequered pattern, more distinct on the anterior half of the body, by the presence on the 2 nd to 8 th dorsal scale rows and vertebral scale rows of 4 to 5 series of irregular, diffuse elongate or rectangular blotches, blackish-brown or very dark grey blotches, often fuzzy, larger at the bottom of the sides and on 6 th– 8 th dorsal rows, covering a length of 1.5 to 2.5 dorsal scales; on each side of the body, a dorsolateral series of irregular blotches, yellow-ochre or yellowish-brown on the 4 th– 6 th or 5 th– 6 th DSR, enlarged, and forming a chain on the first quarter to third of the body, progressively smaller, vanishing after midbody or remaining as very faint pale spots throughout the body. The tail is as the body surface, chequered with small dark blotches and spots.</p>
            <p>The head is olive-brown, greyish-brown, brown to dark brown, paler on the rostral and sides of the snout; cephalic scales scattered with pale brown, yellowish-brown or dark yellow-ochre vermiculations, sometimes producing short, irregular, parallel streaks or elongate areas on prefrontals and frontal and an oblique streak on the outer edge of each parietal; often the presence of twin parietal pale spots; anterior supralabials greyish-yellow, pale brown or ochre yellow, especially on their lower half, more or less strongly powdered with olive-brown or dark brown on their upper part, and more or less broadly edged with dark or blackish-brown; a broader, dark brown or blackishbrown, oblique streak on the posterior edge of 6 th and 7 th SL; 8 th or 9 th SL, or both, mostly dark brown, with only the lower part pale; often a faint, poorly-defined, paler area on temporals; usually a dark, oblique postocular streak extending from eye to the corner of the mouth on the top of the 9 th SL and temporals, sometimes poorly defined if the background colour is dark; an irregular yellow-ochre or brownish-yellow, oblique streak directed upwards and backwards extending from the corner of the mouth to the nape, forming a short chevron, sometimes faint or nearly absent; a thin streak of same colour extends from the interparietal suture to the apex of the chevron. Infralabials, chin and throat yellowish-cream or pale yellow-ochre, often nearly uniform with a few dark brown spots on chin shields and throat, sometimes heavily spotted with dark brown spots and flecks; infralabials each edged with dark brown on both edges, sometimes strongly speckled with dark brown.</p>
            <p>The venter is never entirely dark along the whole length of the body, i.e., always pale mesially at least on the anterior fifth, quarter, third or half of the body, sometimes only on the first 20 ventrals, depending on specimens. This pale colour may be beige, pinkish-brown, yellowish-cream, pale yellowish-ochre or pale brownish-grey in preservative on the inner half to two-thirds of ventral width, with tips and outer parts of ventrals heavily and broadly clouded with darker hues, such as dark greyish-brown, brown or dark brown; this dark, clouded area progressively extends inwards, reducing the pale coloration to a narrow mesial part of ventrals then making the venter entirely clouded with dark hues on the posterior part of the body; tips of ventrals often with a large black blotch. Tail dark greyish-brown, dark brown or blackish-brown, uniform or with the edges of subcaudals pale grey or brown.</p>
            <p>In life, the dorsal surface and sides are olive-grey, olive-brown, greyish-brown, dark grey, brown, dark brown or sometimes blackish-brown; the dark dorsal blotches forming the chequered pattern are blackish-brown or very dark grey blotches; the pale irregular blotches on each side of the body are usually bright and conspicuous, greyish-yellow, yellow-ochre or yellowish-brown, sometimes dark greyish-yellow. Pale markings on the head, such as vermiculations and streaks, and supralabials are also bright yellow-ochre or yellowish-brown. The pale area of the venter is pink or bright coral red, sometimes yellow (Fig. 2).</p>
            <p>Hemipenes.—In situ, it is single, short and thin, reaching the 8–9 th SC, proximal part covered with short spines, 2 or 3 spines much larger and hooked; distal part covered with small, dense spines; sulcus spermaticus short and with poorly visible lips.</p>
            <p>Sexual dimorphism. — It is expressed in the following characters:</p>
            <p>(1) Weakly by the difference in the number of ventral scales: males: 164–167 (mean = 165.5, SD (standard deviation) = 1.7); females: 157–165 (mean = 160.0, SD = 4.4).</p>
            <p>(2) Strongly by the difference in the position of the reduction from 8 to 6 scale rows around the tail (counted in number of subcaudals): males: SC 19–24; females: SC 4–9.</p>
            <p>(3) Strongly by the difference in length of the portion of tail with 6 dorsal scale rows/length of the portion of tail with 4 dorsal scale rows: 2.1–2.5 in 4 males, 1.0– 1.4 in 2 females.</p>
            <p>Distribution (Fig. 3).— India. State of Arunachal Pradesh. Patkai Hills, Changlang District; Tirap District (Borang et al. 2005). State of Nagaland. Khonoma, Kohima District; Dzulake (or Dzuleke, Kohima District (Ahmed et al. 2009; M. F. Ahmed, pers. comm., May 2018; A. Das, pers. comm., August 2019). State of Mizoram. Vicinity of Tamdil Lake, Saitual Sub-Division, Aizawl District, 900 m. a.s.l.— Myanmar. Known only from the west of the country. Chin State. Chin Hills, near Hakha, Hakha District; Mindat Township and Kanpetlet Township, Mindat District. Sagaing Region (or Naga Self-Administered Zone). Lahe Township.</p>
            <p> Biology.—The specimens for which data are available were collected in pristine or disturbed evergreen or semievergreen submontane forest and mixed or deciduous moist montane forest, between 870 and 1,635 metres a.s.l. Most snakes were found near hills or montane streams. According to Whitaker &amp; Captain (2004),  Hebius venningi feeds on tadpoles and frogs. </p>
            <p>This species seems to be common in some places (Borang et al. 2005). It is inoffensive and does not attempt to bite when handled.</p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/383AEC41FF89FFE6FF6AFF29FE9FC8DA	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	David, Patrick;Vogel, Gernot;Nguyen, Truong Quang;Orlov, Nikolai L.;Pauwels, Olivier S. G.;Teynié, Alexandre;Ziegler, Thomas	David, Patrick, Vogel, Gernot, Nguyen, Truong Quang, Orlov, Nikolai L., Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Teynié, Alexandre, Ziegler, Thomas (2021): A revision of the dark-bellied, stream-dwelling snakes of the genus Hebius (Reptilia: Squamata: Natricidae) with the description of a new species from China, Vietnam and Thailand. Zootaxa 4911 (1): 1-61, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4911.1.1
383AEC41FF83FFF8FF6AFA80FE1AC9FA.text	383AEC41FF83FFF8FF6AFA80FE1AC9FA.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Hebius nigriventer (Wall 1925) David & Vogel & Nguyen & Orlov & Pauwels & Teynié & Ziegler 2021	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> 2.  Hebius nigriventer (Wall, 1925) new comb.</p>
            <p>(Figs. 4–5)</p>
            <p> Natrix nigriventer Wall, 1925a: 588 .— </p>
            <p>  Type locality. “Huton, Bhamo District (30 miles north-east of Bhamo; circa 4,500 feet; Lat. circa 97°33; Long. Circa 24°24”, now  Hutung , Bhamo District, Kachin State, Myanmar.— Holotype. BMNH 1946.1.13.60, adult female; collected by Father Gilhodes, June 1924. </p>
            <p> Natrix nigriventer .— Bourret 1936b: 55 (synonymy with  Natrix venningi ). </p>
            <p> Hebius nigriventer .—This work. </p>
            <p> Natrix venningi (nec  Tropidonotus venningi Wall, 1910 ).— Wall 1926: 560 (in part); Bourret 1936b: 55 (in part: only the mention of “ Chine ”); Smith 1943: 286 (in part). </p>
            <p> Tropidonotus venningi (nec  Tropidonotus venningi Wall, 1910 ).— Werner 1929: 24 (in part). </p>
            <p> Amphiesma venningi (nec  Tropidonotus venningi Wall, 1910 ).— Kou 1985: 160 (in part); Zhao &amp; Jiang 1986: 239 (?; identification uncertain); Zhao &amp; Adler 1993: 228 (in part), 310; Zhao et al. 1998: 89 &amp; 90 (in part); Zhang 1999: 430 (?); Zhao et al. 2000b: 205; Iskandar &amp; Colijn 2001: 98 (mention from China); He &amp; Zhou 2002: 167 (in part); Ji 2002: 184; Zhao 2006: (Vol. I) 174 (in part), (Vol. II) 97: Fig. 59-2–59-3 (Fig. 59-1 depicts a  Hebius bitaeniatus ); David et al. 2007: 54 (in part), 55 &amp; 60 (in part: three specimens from Kachin State, Myanmar); Sharma 2007: 207 (in part); Yang &amp; Rao 2008: 268 (text: in part; Figure:  H. nigriventer ), 269 (text: in part, Table 58:  H. nigriventer ); Luo et al. 2010: 74; Zhang 2011: 277 (?); Wallach et al. 2014: 33 (in part: only mentions from Kachin State, Myanmar, and Yunnan, China). </p>
            <p> Amphiesma Venrrinig [sic]).— Kou &amp; Zhang 1987: 364. </p>
            <p>
                 Specimens examined (14).—   Myanmar. Kachin State. BMNH 1925.9.17.6, BMNH 1925.12.22.21, BMNH 1946.1.13.60 (holotype of  Natrix nigriventer ), Huton, now Hutung, Kachin Hills, Bhamo District;   CAS 238901– 902, vicinity of  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.37542/lat 25.615028)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.37542&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=25.615028">Nanmon Village</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.37542/lat 25.615028)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.37542&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=25.615028">
Indawgyi 
Lake
Wildlife Sanctuary
</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.37542/lat 25.615028)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.37542&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=25.615028">Moenyin Township</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.37542/lat 25.615028)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.37542&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=25.615028">Myitkyina District</a>
                 , 24°57’35”N, 96°20’36”E;   CAS 245436, north side of  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.37542/lat 25.615028)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.37542&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=25.615028">Panwa Town</a>
                 , 25°36’54.1N, 98°22’31.5E,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.37542/lat 25.615028)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.37542&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=25.615028">Panwa Township</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.37542/lat 25.615028)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.37542&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=25.615028">Myitkyina District</a>
                 , 7,147 ft.  —   People’s Republic of China. Yunnan Province. CAS 241960, Kongdang township in  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.34778/lat 27.901)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.34778&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.901">Dulong Valley</a>
                 , along road from hotel (Kongdang) to bridge approx. 3 km N of hotel (Kongdang), 27°54’03.6”N, 98°20’52.0”E, Gongshan County,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.34778/lat 27.901)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.34778&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.901">Nujiang Prefecture</a>
                 ;   CIB 8278,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.34778/lat 27.901)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.34778&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.901">Jinhong Prefecture</a>
                 ;   KFBG 14536,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.34778/lat 27.901)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.34778&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.901">Hongbenghe</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.34778/lat 27.901)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.34778&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.901">Xueli Village</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.34778/lat 27.901)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.34778&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.901">Yingjiang County</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.34778/lat 27.901)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.34778&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.901">Dehong Dai</a>
                 and  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.34778/lat 27.901)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.34778&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.901">Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture</a>
                 ;   YU 844023, YU 845075–076, Mengla,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.34778/lat 27.901)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.34778&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.901">Mengla County</a>
                 , Jinhong Prefecture.  YU 835043–044, Jinhong, Jinhong Prefecture . 
            </p>
            <p> Taxonomic comments.—This taxon was described as a valid species by Wall (1925a) but subsequently synonymized with  Natrix venningi by Wall (1926: 560), a position accepted by Smith (1943). However, Wall (1926) put emphasis on the similarities in the numbers of dorsals and maxillary teeth between the two taxa but, with three specimens at hand from Hutung, Kachin State, failed to notice the strong differences in their dorsal pattern. On the basis of important and constant differences in the pattern and the other morphological characters detailed below, we resurrect  Natrix nigriventer from the synonymy of  Natrix venningi Wall, 1910 and consider it to be a valid species under the combination  Hebius nigriventer new comb. This species is monotypic. </p>
            <p> H. nigriventer is undoubtedly related to  Hebius venningi , and constitutes the “north-eastern” member in the informal  H. venningi complex. It also occurs near the distributional range of  H. taronensis . These species can be differentiated by the characters given above in the introduction to the informal groups, and by the diagnosis given below in the account of  H. nigriventer . Nevertheless,  H. taronensis and  H. nigriventer seem to be closely related. </p>
            <p> It should also be noted that  H. nigriventer is quite similar to  H. chapaensis . Variation in this latter taxon are still imperfectly known, especially the ratio tail length/total length and the number of subcaudals on which is mostly based the difference between these two species. The values of these characters may be expended when more specimens are available. Furthermore,  H. chapaensis is highly variable in both dorsal and ventral colour pattern. Lastly,  H. chapaensis also occurs in Jinhong Prefecture, Yunnan Province (Jinlong Ren, pers. comm., June 2020), just as does  H. nigriventer . Nevertheless, our data suggest that these taxa are indeed distinct at species level. </p>
            <p> According to Jinlong Ren (pers. comm., June 2020), the presence of  H. nigriventer in both western Yunnan and Myanmar on the one hand, and southern Yunnan on the other hand, isolated areas with very different herpetofaunas, may suggest that  H. nigriventer is a species complex. </p>
            <p> Hebius nigriventer has constantly been cited in the Chinese literature under the combination  Amphiesma venningi , for example by Kou (1985), Kou &amp; Zhang (1987; as  Amphiesma Venrrinig [sic]), Zhao et al. (1998), Zhao (2006) and Yang &amp; Rao (2008). </p>
            <p> Diagnosis.—A moderately sized species of the genus  Hebius characterized by the combination of (1) 17(exceptionally 19)-17-15–17 dorsal scale rows, moderately keeled at midbody, strongly keeled posteriorly but 1 st DSR smooth; (2) dorsal scales around the base of the tail strongly keeled; (3) head moderately distinct from the neck; (4) eye size moderate; (5) maxillary teeth 28–33, the last two moderately enlarged; (6) tail long, with a ratio TaL/TL at least equal to 0.29 in females, up to 0.37 in males; (7) VEN 155–168; (8) SC 105–143; (9) 2 prefrontal scales, (10) anterior temporal elongate, rectangular; (11) venter entirely very dark, i.e., blackish–brown or black, sometimes with two, narrow longitudinal paler stripes, at the exception of a middle stripe pale but heavily blotched with dark hues anteriorly, extending on 5–15 ventrals; (12) dorsal colour very dark, dark brown, very dark greyish-brown or blackish-brown; (13) dorsum background either uniform or with a subdued chequered dorsal pattern made of large, diffuse, rectangular darker blotches on 4 th– 5 th and 7 th– 8 th DSR; (14) on each side, a series of large, cream or pale yellowish-brown (bright orange, rusty-red or reddish-brown in life), rectangular blotches, higher than long anteriorly then more elongate, forming a conspicuous, dorsolateral chain of blotches on 5 th– 6 th DSR throughout the length of the body, becoming smaller posteriorly and turning to an irregular stripe posteriorly; (15) a dark postocular streak usually present; and (16) a short, oblique yellowish-brown or yellow-ochre streak (bright orange or rusty-red in life) above the corner of the mouth and a large blotch of the same colour on the side of the neck. </p>
            <p> Comparison.  Hebius nigriventer differs from  H. taronensis , with which it might be sympatric in northern Myanmar (Kachin State) by (1) the dorsal general colour and pattern, i.e, a very dark background colour with a uniform or weakly and partly chequered pattern vs. a dark background with pale and dark spots or blotches forming a complex speckled or mottled pattern in  H. taronensis ; (2) a conspicuous dorsolateral chain or stripe of bright, orange or rusty-brown blotches vs. a series of small pale yellowish-brown or ochre-brown dorsolateral blotches on the anterior part of the body; (3) venter nearly entirely very dark, i.e. blackish-brown or black, vs. venter both pale and dark, i.e., with a pale background on its anterior part with the anterior half of each ventral brown or blackish-brown, producing a pattern of irregular dark crossbands, and venter nearly uniformly very dark ochre-brown, dark brown or blackish-brown on its posterior part; (4) a longer tail, ratio TaL/TL 0.29–0.37 vs. 0.25–0.29 in  H. taronensis , especially in males: 0.32–0.37 vs. 0.25–0.29; (5) more subcaudals, 105–143 vs. 92–104 SC; (6) fewer ventrals in males, 156–168 vs. 171–175 VEN; (7) a difference in the ratio VEN/SC: 1.16–1.59 vs. 1.66–2.02; and (8) the number of postoculars, usually 2, rarely 3 in  H. nigriventer vs. always 3 in  H. taronensis . </p>
            <p> H. nigriventer differs from  H. venningi , by (1) the dorsal general colour and pattern: a very dark background colour vs. dorsum grey, greyish-brown or, more rarely dark brown, with a distinct chequered pattern of darker blotches in  H. venningi ; (2) a conspicuous dorsolateral chain or stripe of bright, orange or rusty-brown blotches vs. a dorsolateral series of irregular blotches, yellow-ochre or yellowish-brown (bright yellow-ochre in life), enlarged and forming a chain on the first quarter to third of the body, usually vanishing after midbody in  H. venningi ; (3) venter entirely very dark, blackish-brown or black, sometimes with two, narrow longitudinal paler stripes vs. venter widely pale in its middle part along at least the anterior part of the body, laterally clouded or dotted with dark grey or dark brown, never entirely dark; (4) the position of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail in males: SC 9–14 vs. SC 19–24; and (5) the number of postoculars, 2, rarely 3, vs. always 3 in  H. venningi . </p>
            <p> The list of these characters may not clearly express the visual differences between  H. nigriventer , an overally dark species with highly contrasted bright orange dorsolateral blotches, and  H. venningi , a usually paler species, more “grey”, with a much more subdued chequered dorsal pattern. It should be noted that specimen CAS 233206 has a very dark brown background dorsal colour and a venter pale only along the first 10–15 ventrals. However, the dorsal chequered pattern and the lack of the conspicuous dorsolateral bright orange or rusty-brown blotches make it undoubtedly referable to  H. venningi . </p>
            <p> Lastly,  H. nigriventer is morphologically quite similar to  H chapaensis . Differences between these two species are given below in the account of  H. chapaensis . </p>
            <p>Description.—Body rather slender, elongate, cylindrical, stouter in large females; head elongate, triangular, moderately distinct from the thick neck, flattened anteriorly; snout elongate, obtuse as seen from above, oblique seen in profile, flat, amounting for 27.5–31.5 % of HL, or 1.9–2.1 times as long as diameter of eye; nostrils placed dorsolaterally on the snout and directed dorsolaterally, small, round, piercing in the middle of the nasal; eye average, about 1.0–1.1 times as large as the distance between its lower margin and the margin of the lip, with a round pupil; tail long and tapering.</p>
            <p>The maximal known total length is 716 mm (SVL 458 mm; TaL 258 mm; specimen CAS 241960) for a male. The longest known female is 593 mm long (SVL 391 mm, TaL 202 mm long; KFBG 14536). However, specimen CAS 238901, with an incomplete tail, has a SVL of 454 mm.</p>
            <p>Ratio TaL/TL: 0.291 –0.366, with a weak sexual dimorphism (see below).</p>
            <p>Dentition. 28–32 maxillary teeth gradually enlarging, the last 2 moderately enlarged, without diastema.</p>
            <p>Body scalation. DSR: 17(19)-17-15–17 rows; scales rhomboedric, moderately keeled at midbody, more strongly keeled posteriorly; scales of 1 st DSR smooth; scales around the base of the tail very strongly keeled.</p>
            <p>In our sample of 13 specimens, only one specimen has 19 scale rows around the neck. Two others have 16 scale rows before vent, two have 15 rows.</p>
            <p>VEN: 155–168 (plus 1 or 2 preventrals); SC: 105–143, all paired, with a weak sexual dimorphism (see below); cloacal plate divided.</p>
            <p>Ratio VEN/SC 1.16–1.59, with a weak sexual dimorphism (see below).</p>
            <p>Position of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail: SC 7–14, with a distinct sexual dimorphism; ratio: length of the portion of tail with 6 dorsal scale rows/length of the portion of tail with 4 dorsal scale rows: 2.1–3.1.</p>
            <p>Head scalation. Arrangement of upper head scales complete including 2 internasals, 2 prefrontals, 2 supraoculars, 1 frontal, and 2 parietals. Rostral wider than high, barely visible from above; nasals more or less rectangular, elongate, about 1.5–1.8 times longer than high, vertically divided above and below the nostril, with the posterior part equal to anterior one; internasals rather small, trapezoid, in broad contact with each other, about 1.1–1.2 times longer than wide, distinctly narrowing anteriorly with an anterior margin about 0.4–0.5 times the width of the posterior margin; 2 prefrontals rather small, short, wide, wider than long, 0.9–1.1 times as long as internasals; frontal large, shield-like, 1.1–1.3 times longer than wide and 1.8–2.1 times as long as the prefrontal; 1 supraocular on each side, subtriangular, 2.0–2.2 times longer than wide, about as wide as internasals; parietals large and broad, 1.5–1.6 times longer than the frontal, or suture between parietals 1.0–1.1 times longer than frontal; 1/1 loreal, pentagonal, elongate, 1.4–1.5 times longer than high, in broad contact with the nasal; 2 preoculars on each side in all examined specimens, upper one larger than lower one; 2 (in 8/24 occurrences) or 3 (16/24 occurrences) small postoculars; 9/9 SL in all examined specimens, the first five as long as high or longer than high, 1 st and 2 nd SL small and short, in contact with the nasal, 2 nd– 3 rd or more rarely 2 nd– 4 th, 3 rd or 3 rd– 4 th SL in contact with the loreal, 4 th– 6 th (5 th– 6 th in two specimens) SL entering orbit, 7 th and 8 th SL largest; 1 anterior temporal, elongate, rectangular, followed by 1 or, rarely 1+1/1 or 2 posterior temporals, the most common formula being 1+1 temporals; 10 infralabials in all examined specimens, first pair in contact, 1 st– 5 th IL in contact with anterior chin shields, 5 th and 6 th IL largest; posterior chin shields longer than anterior ones.</p>
            <p>Coloration and pattern. The upper dorsal surface is dark brown or blackish-brown, either nearly uniform or with, on each side, two series of subdued, poorly visible large, rectangular darker blotches, about 2–2.5 scales long and wide, one on the top of the back on the 7 th– 8 th DSR, the other series on the 3 rd– 4 th or 4 th– 5 th DSR forming altogether a diffuse chequered pattern; on each side throughout the length of the body, a dorsolateral series of conspicuous distinctly enlarged, vertically elongate or triangular blotches, pale creamish-brown or pale ochre-brown in preservative (see below in life), extending on the 4 th– 6 th or 5 th– 6 th DSR, longitudinally separated by 2 or 3 dorsal scales, about 1.5–2 scales long and 2–3 scales high anteriorly; after midbody, these conspicuous blotches become smaller and squarish or irregularly-shaped, then elongate posteriorly and forming a discontinuous dorsolateral chain or an irregular stripe; some small orange spots or blotches on the bottom of the sides. The tail is as dark as the upper surface of the body, possibly mottled with irregular darker blotches; a dorsolateral series of orange-brown, rusty-red or brownish-red elongate spots or dashes up to the tip of the tail.</p>
            <p>The head is dark brown or blackish-brown, irregularly mottled above with both paler and darker brown vermiculations or diffuse areas; loreal and nasal either dark brown or with a paler area, pale yellowish-brown spotted with dark brown; 1 st– 6 th or 1 st– 7 th supralabials dirty creamish-yellow or pale yellowish-brown, 1 st– 3 rd SL usually strongly speckled with dark brown, all broadly edged with dark brown or blackish-brown on their posterior edge, sometimes the pale coloration being restricted to the forward half of the suparalabial; last supralabial with a large pale blotch on its upper part, pale creamish-yellow or creamish-brown; a broad, dark postocular streak extending obliquely from postoculars to the two upper parts of posterior supralabials and to the corner of the mouth; a narrower, oblique streak or a series of small, elongate blotches, dirty creamish-yellow or pale yellowish-brown, extending above the dark streak from the upper postocular to the large pale blotch on the 9 th SL and to behind the corner of the mouth; on each side of the neck, an irregular, rather broad streak, pale creamish-yellow or yellowish-brown (see below in life), obliquely directed upwards and backwards, extends from behind the corner of the mouth to the nape, forming a short chevron with an apex directed backwards. Infralabials, chin and throat yellowish-cream or pale yellow-ochre, with scattered dark brown spots on chin shields and throat, sometimes heavily spotted with dark brown; infralabials strongly edged with dark brown on both anterior and posterior edges, and often strongly speckled with dark brown, being sometimes more brown than pale.</p>
            <p>The venter is dark brown, blackish-brown or black on nearly its whole length at the exception of first 10–20 ventrals, pale in their middle but heavily blotched with dark hues; often, three narrow longitudinal stripes, paler brown or yellow-ochre, one in the middle of the venter, the other ones on the outer third of each ventral along the anterior half of the body after the pale central area, vanishing at the level of third to half of the body, making the venter nearly uniformly dark on its posterior part; tips of ventrals without dark blotch but with a streak of the pale colour forming an irregular ventrolateral stripe reduced to the anterior part of the body. Tail uniformly dark brown or blackish-brown below; tip of tail very dark.</p>
            <p>In life, the overall coloration is as described above but more constrasted; the dorsal surface is dark or nearly black, somewhat shining; large and small, elongate dorsolateral blotches are conspicuous, bright orange-brown, redochre, rusty-red or brownish-red, strongly constrasting with dark background colour. Pale markings on the head and supralabials are dark greenish-yellow, yellowish-ochre or pale yellowish-brown; the narrow, arched streak, or the series of irregular blotches extending from the upper postocular to the 9 th SL and to behind the corner of the mouth are yellow-ochre, pale yellowish-brown, orange brown or rusty red; the broad streak on each side of the neck has the same colour than dorsolateral blotches. Pale areas of the venter are yellowish ochre or brownish-yellow, never in reddish hues.</p>
            <p>Hemipenes.—The hemipenis of this species has not been examined.</p>
            <p>Sexual dimorphism. — It is expressed in the following characters:</p>
            <p>(1) strongly by the difference in the ratio TaL/TL: males: 0.348 –0.375 (mean = 0.353, SD = 0.019); females: 0.291 –0.341 (mean = 0.312, SD = 0.026).</p>
            <p>(2) by the difference in the number of subcaudals: males: 124–143 (x= 133.0, s = 7.5); females: 105–126 (mean = 112.0, SD = 9.7).</p>
            <p>(3) Strongly by the difference in the position (counted in subcaudals) of the reduction of scale rows around the tail to 6: males: SC 9–14; females: SC 6–7.</p>
            <p>Distribution (Fig. 3).— Myanmar. Kachin State. Bhamo District; Myitkyina District.— People’s Republic of China. Yunnan Province. Yingjiang County, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture; Gongshan County, Nujiang Prefecture; Mengla County, Jinhong Prefecture.</p>
            <p>This species may also be present in northern Laos.</p>
            <p> Biology.—This species inhabits evergreen or semi-evergreen submontane forest and mixed or deciduous moist montane forest from 350 up to 1,550 m asl. According to data relative to a few specimens,  H. nigriventer is both diurnal and active at dusk or in the early part of the night, at air temperatures from about 24 to 27 °C. This species is seemingly largely aquatic. Most snakes were found in hill or montane streams, between or on rocks in the stream bed. One of the specimens mentioned by Wall (1925) had swallowed two large and four small tadpoles. Another one, a female collected in June, contained two large eggs, indicating that egg laying would have taken place at the beginning of the rainy season. </p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/383AEC41FF83FFF8FF6AFA80FE1AC9FA	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	David, Patrick;Vogel, Gernot;Nguyen, Truong Quang;Orlov, Nikolai L.;Pauwels, Olivier S. G.;Teynié, Alexandre;Ziegler, Thomas	David, Patrick, Vogel, Gernot, Nguyen, Truong Quang, Orlov, Nikolai L., Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Teynié, Alexandre, Ziegler, Thomas (2021): A revision of the dark-bellied, stream-dwelling snakes of the genus Hebius (Reptilia: Squamata: Natricidae) with the description of a new species from China, Vietnam and Thailand. Zootaxa 4911 (1): 1-61, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4911.1.1
383AEC41FF9DFFFFFF6AFDB0FDB5C8F6.text	383AEC41FF9DFFFFFF6AFDB0FDB5C8F6.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Hebius taronensis (Smith 1940)	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> 3.  Hebius taronensis (Smith, 1940)</p>
            <p>(Figs. 6–7)</p>
            <p> Natrix venningi taronensis Smith, 1940: 482 .— </p>
            <p>
                  Type locality. “Pangnamdim”, now  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86667/lat 27.716667)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86667&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.716667">Pannandin</a>
                 , about 27°43’N, 97°52’E, Nawngmun Township, Putao District, Kachin State, Myanmar.— Holotype. BMNH 1946.1.13.55 (originally BM 1940.1.6.93), adult male; collected and deposited by Ronald Kaulback, 1937–1939  . 
            </p>
            <p> Natrix venningi taronensis .— Smith 1943: 286. </p>
            <p> Amphiesma venningi taronensis .— Captain &amp; Bhatt 2002: 354, 355; Welch 1988: 34; Zhao 2006: 175; Sharma 2007: 208. </p>
            <p> Paranatrix venningi taronenis .— Mahendra 1984: 245. </p>
            <p> Amphiesma taronense .— Das 2010: 335; Das 2012: 151; Wallach et al. 2014: 33 (in part: mention from Kachin State only). </p>
            <p> Hebius taronensis .— Boundy 2020: 92; this work. </p>
            <p>
                 Specimens examined (14).—  Myanmar. Kachin State. BMNH 1936.7.4.31, “Nam Ti Valley, Upper Burma”, now Ratnamhti (27°35’N, 97°47’E), north of the village of Alangdunhku, at about mid-distance between Langtao and Nawngmun, Putao District; BMNH 1946.13.55 (holotype),  BMNH 1946.1.7.92–97, “Pangnamdin”, 27°42’N, 97°54’E, now Pannandin, Nawngmun Township,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Putao District</a>
                 ;   BMNH 1974.885–886, “Pangnamdin, 3000 ft, 27°42’N, 97°54’E ”, now  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Pannandin</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Nawngmun Township</a>
                 ;   BMNH 1946.1.13.44, “Aliwang, Taron Valley”, now  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Alawang</a>
                 (27°42’N, 98°08’E), near  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Renam</a>
                 , in the valley of the  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Nam Taron</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Putao District</a>
                 ;   CAS 221298, between Alonga and Ahtonga bridge, 27°16’51.3N, 97°45’31.8E,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Machanbaw Township</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Putao District</a>
                 ;   CAS 224426–427:  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Pannandin Village</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Hkakabo Razi National Park</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Nawngmun Township</a>
                 , 27°43’28.7”N, 97°52’09.5”E,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.86931/lat 27.72464)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.86931&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=27.72464">Putao District</a>
                 . 
            </p>
            <p> Taxonomic comments.—This taxon was described as a subspecies of  Hebius venningi (Wall, 1910) . Subsequently, it has rarely been cited as a valid taxon in the literature. It has even been overlooked, for example, by Dowling &amp; Jenner (1988). However, Das (2010, 2012), Wallach et al. (2014) and Boundy (2020) recognized this taxon at full species level, although without justification. This species is monotypic. </p>
            <p> On the basis of the differences in morphology between  Natrix v. venningi and  Natrix venningi taronensis discussed below and of their allopatric distribution, we consider them to be distinct at the specific level. This position has already been previously adopted in the list of snakes of Myanmar provided on the website of the California Academy of Sciences, by Das (2010: 335; 2012: 151) and by Wallach et al. (2014: 33); see the details above under the account of  H. venningi . Following Guo et al. (2014), the species  taronensis is placed in the genus  Hebius . </p>
            <p> Hebius taronensis may be confused with  H. nigriventer , although the tail length and dorsal pattern in life are quite different. Our data show that these taxa differ by constant characters and should be considered distinct species; see above under the account of  H. venningi .  H. taronensis is now restricted to the north of Kachin State, in northern Myanmar and, tentatively, north-eastern India. </p>
            <p> Diagnosis.—A moderately sized species of the genus  Hebius characterized by the combination of (1) 17(18)- 17-17 dorsal scale rows, moderately keeled at midbody, strongly keeled posteriorly but 1 st DSR smooth; (2) dorsal scales around the base of the tail very strongly keeled; (3) head moderately distinct from the neck; (4) eye average; (5) maxillary teeth 28–32, the last two moderately enlarged; (6) tail moderately long, with a ratio TaL/TL &lt;0.29; (7) VEN 158–176; (8) SC 92–104; (9) prefrontal scales 2; (10) 3 postoculars in all examined specimens; (11) anterior temporal more or less hexagonal, narrowing posteriorly; (12) venter both pale and dark, i.e., with a pale background on its anterior part, up to the third or half of the body, with the anterior half of each ventral typically brown or blackish-brown, producing a mottled pattern of irregular dark crossbands, sometimes reduced to one or two dark blotches on some ventrals; on its posterior part, the venter is nearly uniformly very dark ochre-brown, dark brown or blackish-brown; (13) dorsum and sides of body dark, i.e. brown, dark greyish-brown, dark brown and blackish-brown; (14) dorsal pattern made of faint, irregular pale blotches mixed with diffuse, squarish dark brown blotches forming a complex variegated or reticulate pattern, not distinctly chequered; (15) on each side, a series of small, elongate, dorsolateral blotches, pale yellowish-brown or ochre-brown (vividly colored in bright orange-yellow or bright yellow in life); (16) usually no clearly defined postocular streak; and (17) irregular yellowish-brown or yellow-ochre streaks or a faint blotch on the neck. </p>
            <p> Comparison.  Hebius taronensis differs from  H. venningi by (1) a shorter tail, ratio TaL/TL 0.25–0.29 vs. 0.30–0.35 in  H. venningi ; (2) fewer subcaudals, 92–104 vs. 115–129; (3) dorsum brown to blackish-brown with pale and dark spots or blotches forming a complex speckled or mottled pattern vs. dorsum grey or greyish-brown with a chequered pattern of darker blotches; (4) on each side, a series of more or less elongate blotches, pale yellowishbrown or ochre-brown (bright orange or yellowish-red in life) vs. yellow-ochre or yellowish-brown (same in life); (5) venter both pale and dark, i.e. with a pale background on its anterior part with the anterior half of each ventral brown or blackish-brown, producing a pattern of irregular dark crossbands, and venter nearly uniformly very dark ochre-brown, dark brown or blackish-brown on its posterior part vs. venter widely pale in its middle along at least the anterior part of the body, laterally clouded or dotted with dark grey or dark brown, never entirely dark. </p>
            <p> The differences between  H. taronensis and  H. nigriventer have been given above in the diagnosis of the latter species. </p>
            <p>Description.—Body rather slender, elongate, cylindrical, stouter in large females; head elongate, somewhat triangular, moderately distinct from the thick neck, flattened anteriorly; snout elongate, obtuse as seen from above, oblique seen in profile, flat, 24.5–30.5 % of HL, or 1.8–2.1 times as long as diameter of eye; nostrils placed dorsolaterally on the snout, small, round, piercing in the middle of the nasal; eye size average, about 1.0–1.2 times as large as the distance between its lower margin and the margin of the lip, with a round pupil; tail rather long and tapering.</p>
            <p>The maximal known total length is 833 mm (SVL 581 mm; TaL 252 mm; specimen CAS 224427) for a female. The longest known male is 634 mm long (SVL 458 mm, TaL 176 mm long; BMNH 1946.1.13.55).</p>
            <p>Ratio TaL/TL: 0.254 –0.288, without sexual dimorphism (see below).</p>
            <p>Dentition. 27–32 maxillary teeth gradually enlarging, the last 2 moderately enlarged, without diastema.</p>
            <p>Body scalation. DSR: 17(18)-17-16–17 rows; scales rhomboedric, feebly or moderately keeled at midbody, strongly keeled posteriorly; scales of 1 st DSR smooth; dorsal scales around the base of the tail very strongly keeled.</p>
            <p>In our sample of 12 specimens, only one has 18 scale rows around the neck.</p>
            <p>VEN: 158–175 (plus 1 or 2 preventrals); SC: 92–104, all paired; cloacal plate divided.</p>
            <p>Ratio VEN/SC 1.66–2.02.</p>
            <p>Position of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail: SC 9–14, without sexual dimorphism; ratio: length of the portion of tail with 6 dorsal scale rows/length of the portion of tail with 4 dorsal scale rows: 1.3–3.1.</p>
            <p>Head scalation. Arrangement of upper head scales complete including 2 internasals, 2 prefrontals, 2 supraoculars, 1 frontal, and 2 parietals. Rostral wider than high, barely visible from above; nasals more or less rectangular, elongate, about 1.4–1.6 times longer than high, vertically divided above and below the nostril, with the posterior part equal to anterior one; internasals subtriangular, small, in broad contact with each other, about 1.0–1.2 times longer than wide, distinctly narrowing anteriorly with an anterior margin about 0.4–0.5 times the width of the posterior margin; 2 prefrontals, rather large, distinctly wider than long, 1.2–1.3 times longer than internasals; frontal large, shield-like, 1.2–1.3 times longer than wide and 1.6–1.9 times as long as the prefrontal; 1 supraocular on each side, subtriangular, 2.0–2.3 times longer than wide, about as wide as internasals; parietals large and broad, 1.6–1.8 times longer than the frontal, or suture between parietals 1.1–1.3 times longer than frontal; 1/1 loreal, pentagonal, elongate, 1.4–1.5 times longer than high, in broad contact with the nasal; 2 preoculars on each side in all examined specimens, upper one larger than lower one; 3/3 small postoculars in all examined specimens; 9 SL (only 8 SL in 1/18 occurrences), the first five as long as high or longer than high, 1 st and 2 nd SL small and short, in contact with the nasal, 2 nd– 3 rd SL (3 rd– 4 th in one specimen) in contact with the loreal in all examined specimens, 4 th– 6 th SL entering orbit, 7 th and 8 th SL largest; 1 anterior temporal, long, hexagonal, distinctly narrowing posteriorly, followed by 1 or 1+1/1 posterior temporals, the most common formula being 1+1 temporals; 10 infralabials in all examined specimens, first pair in contact, 1 st– 5 th IL in contact with anterior chin shields, 5 th and 6 th IL largest; posterior chin shields longer than anterior ones.</p>
            <p>Coloration and pattern. The upper dorsal surface is dark ochre-brown, chestnut brown or dark brown, sometimes blackish-brown, with many scales irregularly edged or entirely covered with dark brown or blackish-brown, especially on the top of the body, mixed with irregular, diffuse, faint paler areas, pale yellowish-brown or pale brown, producing a complex, irregularly marbled or reticulate pattern; on each side of the body, a dorsolateral series of distinctly enlarged, aligned, pale creamish-brown or pale ochre-brown blotches, about 1.5–2 scales long and 2–3 scales high on the 4 th– 6 th or 5 th– 6 th DSR, forming a discontinuous dorsolateral chain; these blotches become quickly reduced in size, remaining as very faint pale spots in the hinder part of the body and are poorly visible posteriorly, mixed in the general dorsal pattern. The dorsal surface of the tail is as the upper surface of the body, irregularly mottled with many darker blotches but without distinct pale areas.</p>
            <p>The head is dark brown or blackish-brown above, darker than the sides of body, irregularly mottled with paler areas and speckled with darker dots or with irregular darker brown areas; side of the snout slightly paler than upper head surface; anterior or all supralabials pale brownish-yellow, pale or brown, strongly powdered and more or less broadly edged with dark brown on their posterior edge; usually no real dark postocular streak, the temporal region being merely mottled with irregular paler brown; however, in a few specimens (such as CAS 221298), a pale yellowish-brown elongate blotch on the temporal region defines a lower, broad, dark brown streak, connecting posterior temporals to the corner of the mouth; on each side of the neck an irregular, more or less well-defined, yellow-ochre or brownish-yellow streak obliquely directed upwards and backwards extends from the corner of the mouth to the nape forming a short chevron with an apex directed backwards, faint or absent in darker specimens; infralabials, chin and throat pale yellowish-cream or pale yellow-ochre, with a few scattered dark brown spots on chin shields and throat, sometimes heavily spotted with dark brown; infralabials strongly edged with dark brown on their both edges, and often strongly speckled with dark brown.</p>
            <p>The venter is both pale and dark: the background colour is beige, pale greyish-brown or pale ochre-brown on its anterior part, i.e., along the anterior quarter to third, sometimes up to nearly the half of the body, and dark brown or blackish-brown on its posterior part; the first 10–15 ventrals may be merely speckled with brown blotches but, typically, the anterior half of each ventral is irregularly covered with dark brown or blackish-brown, producing a pattern of irregularly-edged, dark crossbands on a paler background; backwards, the dark area progressively expands up to covering the whole of each ventral, often so irregularly as to leave one or two blotches of pale area on the middle of ventrals; after midbody the venter is uniformly dark up to the vent, with the posterior margin of each ventral paler brown; no ventral or ventrolateral pale stripes or streaks. Tail uniformly dark brown or blackish-brown below; tip of tail as the undersurface of tail.</p>
            <p>In life, the pattern is much more vivid and contrasted; the background coloration is as described above, usually dark brown or nearly black; the faint, dorsal paler areas are dark ochre-brown or yellowish-brown; dorsolateral blotches are vividly colored in bright lemon-yellow, orange-yellow or yellowish-red, visible throughout the length of the body. Pale markings on the head, the supralabials, the elongate blotch on the temporal region and the streak obliquely directed upwards and backwards on the hinder part of the head and the neck are dirty yellow or yellowish-ochre. Pale areas of the venter are yellowish-ochre or yellowish-brown.</p>
            <p>Hemipenes.—The hemipenis of this species has not been examined.</p>
            <p>Sexual dimorphism. — It is expressed in the two following characters:</p>
            <p>(1) Difference in the number of ventral scales: males: 171–175 (mean = 172.6, SD = 1.5); females: 158–171 (mean = 165.6, SD = 1.5).</p>
            <p>(2) Strongly by the ratio length of the portion of tail with 6 dorsal scale rows/length of the portion of tail with 4 dorsal scale rows: 2.6–3.1 in 4 males, 1.3–2.0 in 2 females.</p>
            <p>Distribution (Fig. 3).— Myanmar. Kachin State. Lake Indawgyi, Mohnyin Township; Nawgmung Township and Machanbaw Township, Putao District.— India. State of Arunachal Pradesh. Changlang District.</p>
            <p> In Myanmar, this species is currently endemic to the mountain ranges located north-east of Putao and Mawgmung, in the extreme north of the country. Farther south in the same state, it is replaced by  Hebius nigriventer . </p>
            <p> The presence of  H. taronensis in extreme north-eastern India is based on a specimen cited by Captain &amp; Bhatt (2002). Although we have not seen it, its number of subcaudals and relatively short tail are typical of  H. taronensis . We here add this species to the snake fauna of India. </p>
            <p> Biology.—This species inhabits semi-evergreen submontane forest and mixed or deciduous moist montane forest from about 1,000 up to at least 1,850 m asl. Most known localities are between 1,100 and 1,800 metres a.s.l.  H. taronensis is seemingly diurnal. According to Smith (1940), most specimens were obtained from small mountain streams. One was eating a frog, another specimen had eaten tadpoles. Others were found under rocks near a stream. Nothing else is known on the biology of this seemingly rare or highly localized species. According to Smith (1940), this water snake is quiet and harmless. </p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/383AEC41FF9DFFFFFF6AFDB0FDB5C8F6	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	David, Patrick;Vogel, Gernot;Nguyen, Truong Quang;Orlov, Nikolai L.;Pauwels, Olivier S. G.;Teynié, Alexandre;Ziegler, Thomas	David, Patrick, Vogel, Gernot, Nguyen, Truong Quang, Orlov, Nikolai L., Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Teynié, Alexandre, Ziegler, Thomas (2021): A revision of the dark-bellied, stream-dwelling snakes of the genus Hebius (Reptilia: Squamata: Natricidae) with the description of a new species from China, Vietnam and Thailand. Zootaxa 4911 (1): 1-61, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4911.1.1
383AEC41FF99FFF6FF6AFB77FE04C9DE.text	383AEC41FF99FFF6FF6AFB77FE04C9DE.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Hebius chapaensis (Bourret 1934)	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> 4.  Hebius chapaensis (Bourret, 1934)</p>
            <p>(Figs. 8–9)</p>
            <p> Pararhabdophis chapaensis Bourret, 1934a: 131 (Separate: p. 3), Fig. 2.— </p>
            <p> Type locality. “Chapa, province de Laokay (Tonkin), à l’altitude moyenne de 1600 m ”, now Sa Pa, Lào Cai Province, Vietnam, ca. 1,600 m elevation.— Holotype. MNHN 1938.0125, adult male (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France); collected by René Bourret, Summer 1930 or 1931 and deposited in 1934.</p>
            <p> Pararhabdophis chapaensis .— Bourret 1935a: 249; Bourret 1936a: 97, 103, 114 &amp; 121; Bourret 1936b: 121, Fig. 49; Bourret 1939a: 44; Bourret 1939b: 54; Smith 1943: 316; Tran et al. 1981: 382; Welch 1988: 88; Nguyen &amp; Ho 1996: 98; Iskandar &amp; Colijn 2001: 103; Nguyen et al. 2005a: 93; Nguyen et al. 2009: 363; Das 2010: 296; Bain &amp; Hurley 2011: 104 &amp; 129; Stuart &amp; Nguyen 2012b: e.T191911A2014449; Pham et al. 2013: 17, 21 &amp; 22: Fig. B; Teynié et al. 2014: 43, 44: Pl. 7B; Wallach et al. 2014: 522; David et al. 2015b: 203, 209, 215, 216 &amp; 219; Le et al. 2018: 103, 106: Fig. 3A &amp; 107. </p>
            <p> Hebius chapaensis .— Kizirian et al. 2018: 2, 3 &amp; 5; Ren et al. 2018: 31, 37 &amp; 40; Boundy 2020: 92; T. V. Nguyen et al. 2020: 234: Fig. 8 (A); Wang et al. 2020: 205; Appendix 2: 15. </p>
            <p>
                 Specimens examined (10).—   People’s Republic of China. Yunnan Province. CIB 110718, Menglun, 21°58’5”N, 101°11’51.46”E, Mengla County,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 101.19763/lat 21.968056)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=101.19763&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=21.968056">Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture.</a>
                 elev. 567 m.  —   Vietnam. Lao Cai Province. IEBR 2907–2909, Cat Cat, I Ninh Ho, Sa Pa; MNHN 1938.0125 (holotype of  Pararhabdophis chapaensis ),  Sa Pa , ca. 1,600 m a.s.l.  ;  ROM 38195, Lao Cai. Cao Bang Province. ROM 28636, Cao Bang. —   Laos. Houaphan Province. NCSM 77924, Phou Louey National Protected Area, near Tad Loi Waterfall, 20.23253°N, 103.2108°E,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 103.2108/lat 20.23253)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=103.2108&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=20.23253">Viengthong District</a>
                 , elev. 1,186 m  ;   1 non preserved specimen, near Viengthong,  Viengthong District , elev. 1,050m. Louangphabang (or Louang Prabang) Province;   NCSM 77925, Hoay Tala 1, branch of the Nam Madao, 19.30189°N, 102.5736°E,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 102.5736/lat 19.30189)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=102.5736&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=19.30189">Phoukhoume District</a>
                 , elev. 1,269 m  . 
            </p>
            <p> Taxonomic comments.— Bourret (1934a) erected the genus  Pararhabdophis for the sole included species  Pararhabdophis chapaensis Bourret, 1934 , described from a single specimen, on the basis of the following characters: 32 subequal maxillary teeth, of which the three last ones are strongly enlarged, and a small eye with a vertical pupil; other characters included a head well distinct from the neck, 2 internasals and 2 prefrontals, an elongate, slightly laterally compressed body, dorsal scales feebly keeled, without apical pits, in 17 rows, tail long, subcaudals paired and hypapophyses developed throughout along the vertebral column. Smith (1943) accepted the validity of this genus solely on the basis of the vertical pupils of the holotype. Otherwise, Smith stated that he would have placed it in the then large genus  Natrix Laurenti. In fact, the diagnosis of the genus has been somewhat biased by Bourret (1934a). The holotype is in bad condition and strongly dessicated. After a careful examination under a powerful incident light, the pupil of the holotype became visible. It is indeed elliptic at left but nearly circular at right, where it is much more difficult to see. Most probably, Bourret was misled by the state of his specimen, perhaps found dead on road. We suspect that the dessication of this specimen may have altered the shape of the eye. </p>
            <p> The status of this genus has not been re-evaluated between 1934 and 2018 and it has been constantly considered to be valid (see the references cited above), probably by lack of additional specimens. Indeed, for long, this species has been known from its sole holotype, collected in north-western Vietnam. Subsequently, three specimens were obtained from Laos (Teynié et al. 2014). David et al. (2015b) examined a total of nine specimens of  Pararhabdophis chapaensis and confirmed the validity of the species. All these specimens agree in all points with the holotype but have a round pupil. The posterior maxillary teeth are strongly enlarged. In the family  Natricidae , this condition is met in the genus  Rhabdophis and in  Amphiesma stolatum (Duméril, Bibron &amp; Duméril) , sole species of the genus  Amphiesma following the revision of Guo et al. (2014). It appears also in the Himalayan species currently referred to the genus  Herpetoreas G̹nther by Guo et al. (2014). </p>
            <p> Eventually, on the basis of molecular data, Kizirian et al. (2018) showed that  Pararhabdophis chapaensis is nested within the genus  Hebius Thompson, 1913 . Barely one month later, Ren et al. (2018) reached the same conclusions on the basis of both morphological and molecular data. We here follow these authors in referring  Pararhadophis chapaensis to the genus  Hebius . The dentition of the upper maxilla, made of subequal small teeth followed by two enlarged posterior teeth, the average-sized eye with a round pupil, the dorsolateral nostrils, the keeled dorsal scales, the long, keeled tail, the supralabials longer than high and the general pattern, are typical of the genus  Hebius as defined by Guo et al. (2014). This species is monotypic. </p>
            <p>Furthermore, Ren et al. (2018) reported the occurrence of this species in China on the basis of a single specimen collected from Pingbian Miao Autonomous County, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, at about only 21 kilometres from the Sino-Vietnamese border along the Vietnamese province of Lào Cai. These authors also examined seven additional specimens from north-western Vietnam (Sa Pa, Lao Cai Province).</p>
            <p> Diagnosis.—A moderately sized species of the genus  Hebius characterized by the combination of (1) a body elongate in both sexes; (2) head distinct from the neck; (3) 17–18 (rarely 19)-17-17 dorsal scale rows, distinctly keeled at midbody, strongly keeled posteriorly, especially before vent but smooth or feebly keeled on the 1 st dorsal scale row; (4) scales around the base of the tail very strongly keeled; (5) eye average with a pupil variable in shape, i.e., usually round but also elliptic or even asymmetrically and irregularly shaped, 1.0–1.2 times the distance between the lower margins of eye and of lip; (6) 29–34 maxillary teeth, progressively increasing in size in a continuous series, the last two or three abruptly and strongly enlarged, not separated from anterior teeth by a diastema; (7) nostrils piercing laterally or slightly dorsolaterally; (8) tail long but with a ratio Tal/TL lower than 0.30; (9) 159–177 VEN; (10) 90–114 subcaudals, paired; (11) internasals abruptly truncated; (12) 2 prefrontal scales, (13) 1 anterior temporal, (14) venter dark, blackish-brown or black, with some paler, more or less faint longitudinal streaks and sometimes a pale blotch or streak on the outer margin of ventrals; (15) background colour dark brown or blackishbrown; (16) dorsal pattern made of more or less elongate cream, pale yellow or pale orange-brown blotches on a faint dorsolateral stripe; (17) an elongate, cream or pale ochre-yellow blotch, or isolated blotches on the nape; (18) a strong postocular streak; (19) upper head surface with strong, yellow vermiculations; and (20) supralabials cream, ochre-yellow or pale yellowish-brown, edged with dark brown, or divided into a pale and dark area. </p>
            <p> Comparison. Among species with 17 dorsal scale rows,  Hebius chapaensis readily differs from  H. annamensis by (1) internasals abruptly truncated (vs. distinctly narrowing); (2) its venter nearly entirely dark vs. entirely pale with only tips of ventral scales dark in  H. annamensis ; (3) a distinct dorsal pattern; and (4) a shorter tail, ratio TaL/ TL 0.28–0.30 vs. 0.30–0.34 in  H. annamensis ; see also below in the account of  H. annamensis . </p>
            <p> Hebius chapaensis differs from  H. venningi by the characters given in the key above, especially (1) a shorter tail, ratio TaL/TL 0.28–0.30 vs. 0.30–0.35 in  H. venningi ; (2) the number of postoculars, mostly 2 (exceptionally 3) vs. 3 in all examined specimens of  H. venningi ; (3) venter entirely dark with some pale streaks vs. venter pale mesially at least on the anterior part of the body, clouded with darker hues of brown on the outer parts of ventrals in  H. venningi . </p>
            <p> Hebius chapaensis differs from  H. taronensis especially by (1) its venter entirely dark with some pale streaks vs. venter pale anteriorly with an irregular dark brown crossband on each ventral, dark brown on its posterior half in  H. taronensis ; (2) dorsum with large, orange dorsal blotches vs. dorsum overally dark with faint paler blotches and diffuse black spots or blotches forming a complex speckled or irregularly mottled pattern. </p>
            <p> Lastly,  H. chapaensis is morphologically quite similar to  H. nigriventer . These species may be distinguished by (1) a shorter tail in  H. chapaensis , 0.28–0.30 vs. 0.29–0.37 in  H. nigriventer ; (2) 90–114 subcaudals in  H. chapaensis vs. 105–143 SC in  H. nigriventer ; (3) dorsal scales strongly keeled on the body (smooth or feebly keeled on the 1 st dorsal scale row) vs. moderately keeled at midbody, strongly keeled posteriorly, but with scales of 1 st DSR smooth; (4) dorsal pattern made of more or less elongate, cream, pale yellow or pale orange-brown blotches (orange or rusty-red in life) on a faint dorsolateral stripe vs. rectangular blotches of the same colours, higher than long anteriorly then more elongate, forming a conspicuous, dorsolateral chain of blotches. Other characters may be found in the account of  H. nigriventer . </p>
            <p>Description.—Body elongate, slightly laterally compressed, somewhat thicker in females; head elongate, somewhat triangular, distinct from the thick neck, strongly flattened anteriorly; snout elongate, flat, blunt or slightly round seen from above, subrectangular seen in profile, 25.0–31.0 % of HL, or 1.8–2.0 times longer than diameter of eye; nostrils small, round, placed slightly dorsolaterally on the snout and directed dorsolaterally, piercing in between the two parts of divided nasal; eye size average, about 1.0–1.2 times as large as the distance between its lower margin and the margin of the lip, with a pupil variable in shape, i.e., usually round but also elliptic or even asymmetrically and irregularly shaped, according to our specimens and Ren et al. (2018); tail long, thin and tapering.</p>
            <p>The maximal known total length is 742 mm (SVL 534 mm; TaL 208 mm; specimen ROM 38195) for a male. The longest known female is 730 mm long (SVL 522 mm, TaL 208 mm long; ROM 28636).</p>
            <p>Ratio TaL/TL: 0.280 –0.296, without sexual dimorphism (see below).</p>
            <p>Dentition. 29–34 maxillary teeth, gradually enlarging in a continuous series, the last 2 or 3 teeth abruptly and strongly enlarged, without diastema.</p>
            <p>Body scalation. DSR: 17(or 18)-17-17 rows; scales rhomboedric, keeled on 2 nd– 10 th, moderately on the anterior part of the body, strongly posteriorly, very strongly in the region of the vent and along the base of the tail; scales of 1 st row smooth anteriorly, feebly keeled posteriorly.</p>
            <p>In a sample of 11 specimens, the dorsal scale row formulas are: 17–17–17 (7 specimens), 18–17–17 (3 specimens) and 19–17–17 (1 specimen).</p>
            <p>VEN: 159–177 (plus 1 or 2 preventrals); SC: 90–114, all paired, with a weak sexual dimorphism (males: 103–114; females 90–111); cloacal plate divided.</p>
            <p>Ratio VEN/SC 1.47–1.77.</p>
            <p>Position of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail: SC 8–19, with a sexual dimorphism (males: 15–19 th subcaudal; females: 8–13 th subcaudal); ratio: length of the portion of tail with 6 dorsal scale rows/length of the portion of tail with 4 dorsal scale rows: 0.39–0.55.</p>
            <p>Head scalation. Arrangement of upper head scales complete including 2 internasals, 2 prefrontals, 2 supraoculars, 1 frontal, and 2 parietals. Rostral hexagonal, wider than high, well visible from above; nasals more or less rectangular, elongate, vertically divided above and below the nostril by a furrow with the fore and hind parts similar in size, altogether about 1.2–1.6 times longer than high; internasals subtriangular, 1.1–1.2 times longer than wide, abruptly truncated with their anterior margin about 0.7–0.58 times the width of the posterior margin, elongate, in broad contact with each other, shorter than the prefrontal; 2 prefrontals, rather large, wide but short, distinctly broader than long, 1.1–1.3 times longer than internasals; in broad contact with loreal; frontal hexagonal, large, shield-like, 1.1–1.3 times longer than wide and 1.7–1.9 times as long as the prefrontals; on each side 1 supraocular, subtriangular slightly narrower than internasals, 1.6–1.8 longer than wide, about 0.5 times as wide as frontal; parietals long and broad, 1.7–2.1 times longer than frontal, or suture between parietals as great as the frontal length; 1/1 loreal, rectangular, elongate, 1.5–1.8 times longer than high, in broad contact with the nasal; 2 (rarely 1) preoculars on each side, 2 subequal preoculars on each side in all specimens examined by us, 1 or 2 scales in specimens examined by Ren et al. (2018); 2 or rarely 3 small postoculars on each side, upper one largest; 9 (rarely 10) supralabials, 1 st– 5 th SL longer than high, other supralabials as long as high, 1 st– 2 nd SL small and short, 1 st– 3 rd SL in contact with nasal, 2 nd– 3 rd or 3 rd– 4 th SL in large contact with the loreal, 4 th– 6 th or rarely 5 th– 6 th SL entering orbit, 7 th– 8 th supralabials largest; 1 anterior temporal, narrow and elongate, in all known specimens; complete temporal formulas as 1+1 or more rarely 1+2; 9–10 (rarely 8) infralabials, first pair in contact with each other behind the mental, 1 st– 5 th (rarely 1 st– 4 th) IL in contact with anterior chin shields, 5 th IL largest; mental triangular; anterior pair of chin shields equal to or slightly longer than posterior shields.</p>
            <p>Coloration and pattern. In preservative, upper dorsal surface and body sides are dark brown, dark chestnut brown or deep blackish-brown, with sides below the 5 th dorsal scale row either variegated with cream or yellow, or with most scales of the 1 st to 4 th scale rows marked with irregular longitudinal streaks, cream, ochre or pale brown (see below in life), reduced to dots posteriorly; a large, elongate, crescentic blotch or smaller, isolated cream, pale yellow or pale orange-brown blotches on the nape; a faint or irregular dorsolateral stripe, yellowish-ochre or pale brown, extending from the neck to vent on the 5 th– 7 th dorsal scale rows, often barely distinct or even absent; on the dorsolateral stripe (when present), a series of cream or yellow, elongate, blotches 2 or 3 scale long; the first four to six blotches behind the neck largest, covering scales of the 5 th– 7 th dorsal scale rows, others progressively narrower and forming a chain of vertically narrow, irregular, strongly elongate blotches then turning into a narrow stripe posteriorly. Dorsal surface of tail is the same than the upper body surface, with a row of dorsolateral blotches of same colour as those of the body.</p>
            <p>The head is dark brown or blackish-brown as the body above, irregularly but strongly variegated above with paler brown, yellow or yellowish-ochre; sides of the snout distinctly paler, greyish-brown or greyish- or brownishyellow or brown-ochre; anterior supralabials rather brown, others ochre-yellow or pale brown, more or less strongly edged with dark brown or blackish-brown, last three supralabials ochre-yellow on their lower part, dark brown or blackish-brown on much of their middle, pale above, this pattern forming a lower, dark postocular streak; above, a narrow, oblique, more or less distinct cream, pale ochre-yellow or pale brown postocular streak on anterior and lower posterior temporals and top of the 8 th and 9 th supralabials, reaching the neck behind the corner of the mouth but not connected with the large blotch on the nape. The throat, chin and infralabials are cream or pale yellowishochre, more or less heavily spotted with dark brown spots; infralabials heavily marbled or spotted with dark brown. Eye dark golden brown in life.</p>
            <p>The venter is dark brown or blackish-brown, with some paler, more or less faint longitudinal streaks; a more or less conspicuous cream spot or streak on the outer part of each ventral, with dark brown or blackish-brown tips. The under surface of tail has the same colour than the venter.</p>
            <p>In life, the colour and pattern are much more vivid, some specimens being especially colourful (see Fig. 9); the dorsal background colour is dark greyish-brown, dark reddish-brown, dark brown or blackish-brown; scales of the sides below the 5 th dorsal scale row variegated with yellow or orange, or scales of the 1 st to 4 th scale rows marked with yellow or bright coral-red longitudinal streaks or dots posteriorly; the large crescentic blotch or the smaller blotches on the nape are yellowish-ochre or reddish-brown; the dorsolateral stripe is yellowish-red, rusty-red or reddish-brown; the dorsolateral blotches, anteriorly, and stripe, posteriorly, are vividly and conspiscuously colored in bright yellowish-red, orange or bright rusty-red. Pale markings on the head, the supralabials, the elongate blotch on the temporal region and the streak obliquely directed upwards and backwards on the hinder part of the head and the neck are yellowish-ochre or yellowish-red. Pale areas of the venter are yellowish-ochre.</p>
            <p>Hemipenes.—Based on morphological data of the specimen IEBR2908 and Ren et al. (2018), in everted condition the organ is single, short and subcylindrical, not forked, reaching the 5–6 th SC, spinose throughout; spines more or less uniform in size; sulcus spermaticus simple, reaching the tip of the organ.</p>
            <p>Sexual dimorphism. — It is expressed in two characters:</p>
            <p>(1) Position of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail: males: 15–19 th SC; females: 8–13 th SC.</p>
            <p>(2) Number of subcaudals: males: 103–114; females 90–111.</p>
            <p>Distribution (Fig. 3).— Vietnam. Cao Bang Province. Cao Bang. Hanoi Municipality. Ba Vi National Park. Dien Bien Province. Muong Nhe Nature Reserve, Muong Nhe District. Lao Cai Province. Lao Cai; Hoang Lien National Park, Sa Pa District; Bat Xat Nature Reserve, Bat Xat District. Son La Province. Copia Nature Reserve, Thuan Chau Dsitrict; Sop Cop Nature Reserve, Sop Cop District. Thanh Hoa Province. Xuan Lien, Thuong Xuan District. Yen Bai Province. Mu Cang Chai Species and Habitat Conservation Area, Che Tao Commune (Le et al. 2018).— Laos. Houaphan Province. Phou Louey National Protected Area, Viengthong District. Louangphabang Province. Hoay Tala, Phoukhoume District. Xaisomboun Province. Longcheng District (T. V. Nguyen et al. 2020).— People’s Republic of China. Yunnan Province. Daweishan National Nature Reserve, Pingbian Miao Autonomous County, Honghe Hani, Yi Autonomous Prefecture, and Jinhong Prefecture. This distribution includes data from Ren et al. (2018; pers. comm., June 2020).</p>
            <p> Biology.—This species inhabits regions covered with tropical and subtropical evergreen montane forests between 900 and 2,046 m a.s.l. (Ren et al. 2018). All specimens for which data are available were collected in montane, wet evergreen forests and in close association with forest streams. This species is nocturnal and both semiaquatic and terrestrial; no specimen was collected at more than a few meters from water. One specimen from Laos was swimming in submerged vegetation along the bank of a 3 meter wide stream with moderate current; another specimen was seen perched on a tree at 1 meter from a stream. A specimen observed by Ren et al. (2018) was actively preying upon tadpoles of a treefrog species (  Rhacophorus duboisi ) on the edge of a pool. Other data of the biology of  Hebius chapaensis , such as reproductive habits, are still unknown. Specimens from Laos did not prove to be aggressive when handled. </p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/383AEC41FF99FFF6FF6AFB77FE04C9DE	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	David, Patrick;Vogel, Gernot;Nguyen, Truong Quang;Orlov, Nikolai L.;Pauwels, Olivier S. G.;Teynié, Alexandre;Ziegler, Thomas	David, Patrick, Vogel, Gernot, Nguyen, Truong Quang, Orlov, Nikolai L., Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Teynié, Alexandre, Ziegler, Thomas (2021): A revision of the dark-bellied, stream-dwelling snakes of the genus Hebius (Reptilia: Squamata: Natricidae) with the description of a new species from China, Vietnam and Thailand. Zootaxa 4911 (1): 1-61, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4911.1.1
383AEC41FF93FFC8FF6AFDD5FDB4CE5E.text	383AEC41FF93FFC8FF6AFDD5FDB4CE5E.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Hebius annamensis (Bourret 1934)	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> 5.  Hebius annamensis (Bourret, 1934)</p>
            <p>(Figs. 10–11)</p>
            <p> Parahelicops annamensis Bourret, 1934c: 167 (Separate: p. 3) &amp; 170 (Separate: p. 6), Fig. 2.— </p>
            <p>  Type locality. “Bana, station d’altitude située à 1 500 m d’altitude au bord de la Baie de Tourane”, now  Ba Na Nature Reserve , Da Nang City, Vietnam, 1,500 m a.s.l.— Holotype. MNHN 1938.0117, adult male (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France); collected and deposited by René Bourret in 1934. </p>
            <p> Parahelicops annamensis .— Bourret 1936a: 97, 104, 114 &amp; 125; Bourret 1936b: 122, Fig. 50; Bourret 1939b: 54; Taylor &amp; Elbel 1958: 1158; Campden-Main 1970: 46, Fig.; Welch 1988: 88; Nguyen &amp; Ho 1996: 98; Orlov et al. 1998: 61 &amp; 63; Le 2000: 161; Iskandar &amp; Colijn 2001: 102; Orlov et al. 2003: 232; Nguyen et al. 2005a: 93; Stuart 2006: 167–171; Stuart &amp; Chuaynkern 2007: 35 (implicitely, only generic name cited); Murphy et al. 2008: 180; Stuart &amp; Heatwole 2008: 97; Ziegler et al. 2008: 197, 200, 201; Nguyen et al. 2009: 362; Das 2010: Plate 51 (p. 118), 296; Yang et al. 2011: 62, 65–67; Stuart &amp; Nguyen 2012a: e.T192102A2040117; Teynié et al. 2013: 166, 167, 169, 178 &amp; 182; Wallach et al. 2014: 520; David et al. 2015b: 203–205, 209–213; Kizirian et al. 2018: 1–3; Ren et al. 2018 (implicitely, only generic name cited): 37, 46 (Table 5), 47 &amp; 51. </p>
            <p> Opisthotropis annamensis .— Smith 1943: 331 &amp; 334; Bain &amp; Hurley 2011: 104 &amp; 128. </p>
            <p> Amphiesma annamense .— Teynié et al. 2013: 178 (generic allocation in error). </p>
            <p> Hebius annamensis .— Kizirian et al. 2018: 5; Boundy 2020: 91. </p>
            <p>
                 Specimens examined (16).—   Vietnam. Da Nang City. MNHN 1938.0117 (holotype of  Parahelicops annamensis ), “Bana”, now  Ba Na Nature Reserve , elev. 1,500 m  ;   ZISP NLO-2831,  Ba Na Nature Reserve , elev. 1,400 m. Ha Tinh Province.   AMNH 147129, Po Mu forest, Rao An,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 105.23694/lat 18.340557)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=105.23694&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=18.340557">Huong Son District</a>
                 (18°20’26”N 105°14’13”E, 870 m);   ZISP NLO-2478, Rao An,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 105.23694/lat 18.340557)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=105.23694&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=18.340557">Huong Son District</a>
                 , elev. 300 m. Kon Tum Province.   IEBR 371, ZISP NLO-3435, Mang Canh village (14°41’950N, 108°14’642E),  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long -1.25/lat 1.2)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=-1.25&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=1.2">Kon Plong District</a>
                 , elev. 1,200 –1,250 m. Quang Binh Province.   IEBR 4580 (Field number QB.2015.377),  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 106.59299/lat 16.9684)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=106.59299&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=16.9684">Dong Chau Forest</a>
                 , 16°58.104’N, 106°35.579’E, elevation 696 m, Lê Thuy District;   ZFMK 86457, ZISP NLO-2714,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 105.87846/lat 17.7109)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=105.87846&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=17.7109">Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park</a>
                 , 17°42.654’N, 105°52.708’E, elev. 527 m, Hoa Son Commune,  Minh Hoa District . Quang Tri Province.   ZISP NLO-3257, Ban Cup,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 106.58881/lat 16.957233)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=106.58881&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=16.957233">Huong Hoa District</a>
                 , 16°57.434’N, 106°35.329’E, elev. 490 m a.s.l. Thua Thien-Hue Province.  ZFMK 83513, Bach Ma National Park;  ZISP NLO-2790,  Bach Ma National Park , elev. 1,350 m  .—   Laos. Champasak Province. NCSM 77919. Houay Tad Seua stream, Dong Hua Sao NPA,  Pakxong District , 1,245 m a.s.l. Xékong Province.   FMNH 258637, Xe Sap National Biodiversity Conservation Area, 16°04’10’’N, 106°58’45”E,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long -1.5/lat 1.28)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=-1.5&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=1.28">Kaleum District</a>
                 , elev. 1,280–1,500 m  ;   NCSM 78630, Phou Ajol, 15.68239°N, 107°1942°E,  Dakchung District , elev. 1,475 m  ;   NCSM 78632, Phou Ajol, 15.68516°N, 107°1981°E,  Dakchung District , elev. 1,450 m  . 
            </p>
            <p> Taxonomic comments. — Bourret (1934c) erected the genus  Parahelicops for the sole included species  Parahelicops annamensis Bourret, 1934 , described in the same paper from a single specimen, on the basis of the following characters: 25 subequal maxillary teeth, of which the two last ones are enlarged, a small eye with a round pupil, nostrils directed upwards, and a single prefrontal; other characters included a head distinct from the neck, 2 internasals, body elongate, slightly laterally compressed, dorsal scales keeled, without apical pits, in 15 rows, tail long, subcaudals paired and hypapophyses developped throughout the vertebral column. The position of the genus  Parahelicops has long been controversial (David et al. 2015b). Bourret (1934c) stated that this genus was similar to members of the genus  Opisthotropis G̹nther, 1872 but differed by its dentition, its head clearly distinct from the neck and its more elongate body. </p>
            <p> Smith (1943: 334), although recognizing the validity of the characters on which Bourret (1934c) based his description, synonymized  Parahelicops with the genus  Opisthotropis in extending the definition of this latter one. In contrast, Taylor &amp; Elbel (1958: 1156) accepted the validity of  Parahelicops on the basis of Bourret’s characters and placed in this latter genus a new species from north-eastern Thailand,  Parahelicops boonsongi . David et al. (2015b) showed that this species is obviously not congeneric either with  P. annamensis , or with any other natricid genera. As a consequence,  P. boonsongi was referred to the new genus  Isanophis David, Pauwels, Nguyen &amp; Vogel, 2015 . </p>
            <p> Stuart (2006), although recognizing the validity of the genus  Parahelicops , also suggested a close relationship with  Opisthotropis . In contrast, David et al. (2015b), on the basis of morphological characters, considered the genus  Parahelicops to be valid and distinct from  Opisthotropis . Although “  Parahelicops ”  annamensis has usually a single prefrontal, as in most species of  Opisthotropis , it differs from the latter genus, as defined by Boulenger (1893a), Pope (1935), Smith (1943), Bourret (1936b) and Brown &amp; Leviton (1961), by several morphological characters such as (1) 2 distinctly enlarged maxillary teeth vs. subequal teeth in  Opisthotropis , (2) dorsolateral nostrils vs. directed distinctly upwards in  Opisthotropis , and (3) supralabials longer than high vs. distinctly higher than long in  Opisthotropis . In contrast, some characters of the genus  Parahelicops , i.e., the dentition of the upper maxilla, made of subequal small teeth followed by two enlarged posterior teeth, the average eye with a round pupil, the dorsolateral nostrils, the keeled dorsal scales, the long, keeled tail, the supralabials longer than high and the general pattern, were obviously typical of the genus  Hebius as defined by Guo et al. (2014), and especially the “  H. modestus species group”, the group of Indo-Himalayan species which is treated in the present paper. Eventually, Kizirian et al. (2018), on the basis of molecular data, showed that  Parahelicops annamensis was nested in the genus  Hebius and a synonym thereof. We here follow these authors in referring  Parahelicops annamensis to the genus  Hebius . </p>
            <p> For long,  Hebius annamensis has been known from its sole holotype collected in central Vietnam. The second known specimen, and first record from Laos, was described by Stuart (2006). Subsequently, more specimens became available, especially from central Vietnam. David et al. (2015b), in the genus  Parahelicops , expanded the description of  H. annamensis . This species is monotypic. </p>
            <p> Diagnosis.—A moderately sized species of the genus  Hebius characterized by the combination of (1) body elongate in males and females; (2) head distinct from the neck; (3) 15 or 17 dorsal scale rows at midbody, moderately keeled at midbody, strongly keeled posteriorly, usually smooth on the 1 st dorsal scale row; (4) scales around the base of the tail very strongly keeled; (5) eye moderate with a round pupil, 1.2–1.4 times the distance between the lower margins of eye and of lip; (6) maxillary teeth 28–34, progressively increasing in size in a continuous series, the last two moderately enlarged and not separated by a diastema from anterior teeth; (7) nostrils piercing dorsolaterally; (8) tail long with a ratio Tal/TL equal to 0.30 and above; (9) VEN 158–172; (10) SC 116–146; (11) internasals distinctly narrowing anteriorly; (12) prefrontal single in most known specimens, (13) 8 or 9 supralabials; (14) 1 anterior temporal, (15) venter pale on its inner three quarters, with tips of ventral scales very dark; (16) background colour chestnut brown, dark brown or dark greyish-brown; (17) dorsal pattern made of isolate, cream or yellowish-ochre blotches (bright orange or rusty-red blotches in life), usually transversally elongate as crossbars anteriorly, then becoming irregular, broken spots posteriorly; (18) a short and narrow, oblique postocular streak reaching the neck behind the corner of the mouth, sometimes extending on the nape as a broad, oblique and elongate cream or yellowish-ochre streak (orange or rusty-red in life); and (19) supralabials dark as the upper head surface, without defined spots or blotches. </p>
            <p> Comparison. In preservative, specimens of  Hebius annamensis may be easily misidentified as  H. modestus (G̹nther, 1875), an Indo-Himalayan species unknown east of Myanmar. However,  H. modestus has 19 scale rows at midbody vs. 17, 143–163 ventrals vs. 158–172, and a ochre or pale brown venter. </p>
            <p> With its typical dorsal and ventral pattern and its long tail,  Hebius annamensis cannot be confused with any species of the genus  Hebius with 17 dorsal scale rows, from which it differs as follows: </p>
            <p> Hebius annamensis readily differs from  H. chapaensis by the characters given above in the account of this latter species. The main characters are (1) internasals distinctly narrowing anteriorly (vs. abruptly truncated); (2) number of subcaudals, 116–146 vs. 90–114 subcaudals in  H. chapaensis ; (3) venter largely pale, with only tips of ventral scales dark vs. nearly entirely dark in  H. chapaensis ; (4) a distinct dorsal pattern, consisting of pales blotches, usually arranged as crossbars anteriorly in  H. annamensis vs. bright, pale blotches on a faint dorsolateral stripe in  H. chapaensis ; and (5) head with short and narrow postocular streak in  H. annamensis , as well as with dark supralabials, without defined blotches vs. strong postocular streak in  H. chapaensis , with pale supralabials, edged with dark, or divided into a pale and a dark areas. </p>
            <p> Hebius annamensis differs from both  H. taronensis and  H. nigriventer by its venter largely pale vs. entirely black or so in these species, plus by characters given in the key above. </p>
            <p> Hebius annamensis differs from  H. venningi especially by (1) a prefrontal usually single vs. always double; (2) the number of postoculars, 2 (rarely 3) in  H. annamensis vs. usually 3 (rarely 2) in  H. venningi ; (3) venter largely pale, with only tips of ventral scales dark vs. venter pale mesially, at least on the anterior part of the body, clouded with darker hues of brown on the outer parts of ventrals in  H. venningi ; (4) dorsal pattern made of isolate, bright orange or rusty-red blotches, usually horizontally elongate or vertically elongate as crossbars anteriorly vs. dorsal surface distinctly chequered by the presence on sides and upper part of the body of diffuse blackish-brown or very dark grey blotches, and with a dorsolateral series of irregular blotches, yellow-ochre or yellowish-brown (bright yellowish-ochre in life), enlarged and forming a chain on the first quarter to third of the body; (5) the distribution range, Vietnam and southern Laos vs. Northeast India and North Myanmar for  H. venningi . </p>
            <p>Description.—Body moderately robust but elongate, somewhat thinner in males, and cylindrical; head oval, rather short, moderately distinct from the thick neck, flattened anteriorly; snout long, flat, blunt or slightly round seen from above, subrectangular seen in profile, 2.0–2.2 times as long as horizontal diameter of eye; no canthus rostralis; nostril directed dorsolaterally, small, round, piercing in the middle of the divided nasal; eye moderately sized or small, its diameter about 1.2–1.4 times the distance between the lower margins of eye and of lip, with a round pupil; tail long, thin and tapering.</p>
            <p>The maximum known length is 796 mm for a male (SVL 528 mm, TaL 268 mm; specimen ZISP NLO 3257). The longest known female is 685 mm long (SVL 465 mm, TaL 220 mm; ZISP NLO 2831).</p>
            <p>Ratio TaL/TL 0.297 –0.337, without clear sexual dimorphism (6 males: 0.301 –0.337; 3 females: 0.297 –0.321).</p>
            <p>Dentition. 28–34 maxillary teeth, gradually enlarging in a continuous series, the last 2 teeth moderately enlarged, without diastema.</p>
            <p>Body scalation. DSR: 17–19-15–17-15–17 rows; scales rhomboedric, normal in shape, distinctly keeled on 2 nd– 10 th, moderately on the anterior part of the body, strongly posteriorly, very strongly in the region of the vent and along the base of the tail; scales on 1 st row smooth anteriorly, feebly keeled posteriorly.</p>
            <p>The number of dorsal scale rows is quite variable in this species. In our sample of 15 specimens, the dorsal scale row formulas are: 18–15–15 (1 specimen), 19–15–15 (4), 17–17–17 (1), 18–17–15 (2), 18–17–17 (2), and 19–17–17 (5).</p>
            <p>VEN: 158–172 (plus 1 or 2 preventrals), with a sexual dimorphism (see below); SC: 116–146, all paired, with a sexual dimorphism; cloacal plate divided.</p>
            <p>Ratio VEN/SC 1.18–1.44.</p>
            <p>Position of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail: SC 4–16, with a strong sexual dimorphism (see below); ratio: length of the portion of tail with 6 dorsal scale rows/length of the portion of tail with 4 dorsal scale rows: 0.10–0.64.</p>
            <p>Head scalation. Arrangement of upper head scales complete but prefrontals modified, including 2 internasals, 1 or 2 prefrontals (see below), 2 supraoculars, 1 frontal, and 2 parietals. Rostral hexagonal, wider than high, barely visible from above; nasal subrectangular, elongate, vertically divided by a furrow, with the fore and hind parts of similar size, altogether about 1.3–1.5 times longer than high; internasals distinctly subtriangular, elongate, in broad contact with each other, 1.2–1.4 times longer than wide, distinctly narrowing anteriorly with anterior margin about 0.4–0.5 times the width of the posterior margin; 1 prefrontal (in 12/ 15 specimens), shield-like and broad, or 2 prefrontals (3/15), subrectangular, in both cases broader than long and 0.9–1.2 times as long as internasals, in broad contact with loreal; frontal hexagonal, shield-like, rather wide but short, its apex directed posteriorly, 1.0–1.2 times longer than wide, 1.7–2.0 times longer than prefrontals; on each side 1 entire, subtriangular supraocular, rather broad, 1.8–2.2 times longer than wide, slightly narrower than internasals, about 0.5 times as wide as frontal; parietals large, long and wide, 1.7–2.1 times longer than frontal and in contact for a length 1.2 times as long as the frontal length; large, rectangular loreal scale, elongate, 1.5–1.8 times longer than high, in broad contact with the nasal; 2 subequal preoculars on each side in all examined specimens; 2 or rarely 3 small postoculars, the upper one largest; 8 or 9 supralabials, 1 st as long as high, 2 nd– 5 th longer than high, other supralabials as long as high, 1 st– 2 nd supralabials, small and short or, exceptionally 1 st– 3 rd supralabials, in contact with nasal, 2 nd– 3 rd or 3 rd– 4 th supralabials in large contact with the loreal, 4 th– 5 th supralabials, or exceptionally solely 4 th, solely 5 th, 4 th– 6 th or 5 th– 6 th supralabials, entering orbit; 6 th– 7 th or 7 th– 8 th supralabials largest; 1 anterior temporal, narrow and elongate, in all known specimens with complete temporal formulas as 1+1+2 or rarely 1+2+2 or 1+3 (this latter condition only in the type); 10 (rarely 8 or 9) infralabials, 1 st pair in contact with each other behind the mental, 1 st– 5 th infralabials in contact with anterior chin shields, 5 th infralabial largest; mental triangular; anterior pair of chin shields equal to or slightly longer than posterior shields.</p>
            <p>Coloration and pattern. In preservative, the dorsal and lateral surfaces of body are dark chestnut brown, dark brown or dark greyish-brown, darker above than on the sides, either nearly uniform or, more usually, profusely variegated with diffuse, darker brown blotches, larger on the upper parts of the sides than on the vertebral region; scales of the lower lateral scale rows usually spotted or marked with diffuse, yellowish-grey blotches or streaks; in 3 out of 13 specimens, a faint dorsolateral stripe is present on 5 th– 7 th dorsal rows, barely paler than the background color and poorly distinct; on each side, a series of about 50 to 70 distinct dorsolateral blotches, cream, ochre, yellowishbrown, pinkish-brown or orange-brown on 5 th– 7 th dorsal rows, separated from each other by 2–3 dorsal scales, forming a discontinuous dorsolateral stripe; the first few blotches are usually vertically elongate and form a few vertical crossbars extending outwards and reaching downwards the level of the 3 rd scale row on the anteriormost part of the body, quickly followed by thick and horizontally elongate blotches extending up to the first anterior quarter to third of the body; progressively these blotches are reduced to irregular or broken spots or even disappear posteriorly; a short, cream ventrolateral stripe on the anterior part of the body, up to 20 th to 30 th ventrals. The upper surface of tail is as the body, either uniform or with only a few pale dots.</p>
            <p>The head is dark chestnut-brown, more or less variegated above with ochre yellow or pale yellowish-brown, often with numerous minute scattered dark dots; a ochre yellow or pale yellowish-brown sagittal line present, but faint, or absent; last three posterior supralabials irregularly and faintly edged with ochre-yellow anteriorly; a short, narrow or relatively broad, oblique, more or less distinct postocular streak on anterior and lower posterior temporals, and on top of 8 th and 9 th supralabials, reaching the neck behind the corner of the mouth and extending as a large, cream or yellowish-ochre oblique, elongate blotch on the nape, connecting the posterior end of the postocular streak with the first dorsolateral blotch. The throat, chin and infralabials are cream or pale yellowish-ochre, more or less heavily spotted with dark brown spots; infralabials heavily marbled or spotted with dark brown. Eye deep black in life.</p>
            <p>The venter is cream, pale yellowish-ochre or pale brown on the inner half to two thirds of its width, with tips of ventrals dark brown or dark greyish-brown, this dark surface progressively widening posteriorly; often some irregular dark spots scattered on the pale part. The under surface of tail is as the venter but the pale central part is narrower than the dark, outer parts anteriorly, the tail becoming progressively entirely dark below.</p>
            <p>In life, the background coloration is chestnut-brown, dark olive-brown or dark brown, more or less iridescent; the upper dorsal dark blotches are blackish-brown or very dark grey whereas the lower lateral scale rows are marked with yellowish-ochre blotches or streaks; when present, the dorsal stripe is rusty-brown; the main dorsolateral blotches are yellowish-ochre, orange or reddish-brown, a colour often still seen in recently preserved specimens; the short ventrolateral stripe is pale yellowish-ochre. Pale markings on the head are yellowish-ochre or dirty, greyish-yellow; the elongate blotch on the temporal region and on the hinder part of the head is yellowish-ochre or sometimes reddish-ochre; behind the head, the streak obliquely directed upwards and backwards on the neck is of the same colour or turns to bright orange or yellowish-red. The background colour of the throat and venter is cream or pale yellowish-grey.</p>
            <p>Hemipenes.—In situ, the organ is single, short and subcylindrical, not forked, reaching the 10 th SC, spinose throughout.</p>
            <p>Sexual dimorphism. — It is expressed in three characters:</p>
            <p>(1) by the difference in the number of ventrals: males: 168–172 (mean = 167.7, s = 1.7); females: 158–167 (mean = 164.2, SD = 3.4).</p>
            <p>(2) by the difference in the number of subcaudals: males: 126–146 (mean = 138.7, s = 6.9); females: 116–126 (mean = 119.7, SD = 5.5).</p>
            <p>(3) by the position of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail: males: 12–16 th SC; females: 4–7 th SC.</p>
            <p>Distribution (Fig. 3).—This species has been recorded only from central Vietnam and southern Laos. Vietnam. Da Nang City. Ba Na Nature Reserve. Ha Tinh Province. Huong Son District. Kon Tum Province. Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, Kon Plong District. Quang Binh Province. Dong Chau Forest, Lê Thuy District; Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, Minh Hoa District. Quang Tri Province. Huong Hoa District. Thua Thien-Hue Province. Bach Ma National Park— Laos. Champasak Province. Dong Hua Sao National Biodiversity Conservation Area, Pakxong District. Xékong Province. Sap National Biodiversity Conservation Area, Kaleum District; Dakchung District.</p>
            <p>Biology.—This species inhabits regions covered with tropical wet evergreen forest and subtropical montane evergreen forests between about 300 and 1,500 m a.s.l., although most specimens for which elevation data are available were collected between 1,200 and 1,400 m a.s.l. (see also Stuart &amp; Nguyen 2012a). All were collected in primary montane evergreen forests and in close association with fast-running, rocky forest streams.</p>
            <p> This species seems to be mainly nocturnal and aquatic, although one specimen was found on the ground. According to Stuart (2006), specimen FMNH 258637 was collected at night (20.30 h) in steep terrain covered by wet evergreen forest between 1,280 –1,500 m elevation. The snake was first observed on land 50 cm from a small, swift, rocky stream, then it dove into the water and swam under a rock on the stream bottom. Specimen ZFMK 86457 was captured at night (20.00–21.00h) in the leaf litter of a forest stream at 510 m a.s.l., with only the snout tip protruding from the surface of the water (David et al. 2015b). Other biological data of  Hebius annamensis , such as its diet and reproductive habits, are still unknown. </p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/383AEC41FF93FFC8FF6AFDD5FDB4CE5E	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	David, Patrick;Vogel, Gernot;Nguyen, Truong Quang;Orlov, Nikolai L.;Pauwels, Olivier S. G.;Teynié, Alexandre;Ziegler, Thomas	David, Patrick, Vogel, Gernot, Nguyen, Truong Quang, Orlov, Nikolai L., Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Teynié, Alexandre, Ziegler, Thomas (2021): A revision of the dark-bellied, stream-dwelling snakes of the genus Hebius (Reptilia: Squamata: Natricidae) with the description of a new species from China, Vietnam and Thailand. Zootaxa 4911 (1): 1-61, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4911.1.1
383AEC41FFADFFCDFF6AF91CFD42CE22.text	383AEC41FFADFFCDFF6AF91CFD42CE22.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Hebius modestus (Gunther 1875)	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> 6.  Hebius modestus (Günther, 1875)</p>
            <p>(Fig. 13)</p>
            <p> Tropidonotus modestus G̹nther, 1875: 232.— </p>
            <p>  Type locality. “The Himalayas”, specified as being the “  Khasi Hills ”, State of Meghalaya, India, according to Boulenger (1893a: 229) and the BMNH’s collection catalogue.— Syntypes. BMNH 1946.1.13.40 and BMNH 1946.1.13.41, two adult males; collected by Dr. Thomas C. Jerdon. </p>
            <p> Tropidonotus modestus .— Anderson 1879: 817; Theobald 1882: 302; Boulenger 1890: 343; Sclater 1891: 36; Boulenger 1893a: 229; Boulenger 1893b: 308 &amp; 322; Werner 1929: 15 &amp; 25. </p>
            <p> Nerodia modesta .— Wall 1923: 603; Wall 1925b: 809; Wall 1926: 560. </p>
            <p> Natrix modesta .— Mell 1929: 5, 16, 145 (in part: mention from “Osthimalaya” only), 147 (in part: mention from “Osthimalaya” only) &amp; 157; Mell 1931a: 203 (species with 19 DSR), 1931b: 231; Pope 1935: 90 (discussion about the species cited by Anderson 1879); Bourret 1936a (in part): 94, 103 (only mentions from “Assam &amp; Bengale” and “Yunnan”; the mention given on p. 113 refers to  Hebius boulengeri ); Bourret 1936b: 72 &amp; 73 (in part; mentions from Assam and Yunnan); Smith 1943: 290–291 (in part, except specimens from “Upper Laos ”, “ Cambodia ”, “South Annam [Langbian Plateau]”, and “Pen[insular] Siam ”); Deuve 1970: 84 &amp; 88 (in part: except specimens from “Xieng Khoang”); Anonymous 1977: 62; Hu et al. 1980: Pl. 38, 11 (in part) &amp; 70 (in part); Yang et al. 1983: 43 (in part). </p>
            <p> Natrix modista [sic].— Yang et al. 1978: 67 (in part). </p>
            <p> Amphiesma modesta .— Malnate 1960: 50, 52 &amp; 57; Whitaker 1978: 117; Murthy 1986: 72; Tian et al. 1986: 116 &amp; 149; Yang &amp; Inger 1986: 7; Zhao &amp; Jiang 1986: 239; Welch 1988: 31 (in part: except mentions from Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia); Murthy 1990: 72; Zhao &amp; Adler 1993: 227 (in part: only mentions of Yunnan, India and northern Burma) &amp; 310 (in part: Yunnan); Mathew 1995: 437 &amp; 438 (in part: except mentions from Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos); Das 1996: 53; Nguyen &amp; Ho 1996: 69 (in part: not the specimens from Vietnam and localities herein); Zhao &amp; Yang 1997: 205 (in part), 206: Fig. 62; Cox et al. 1998: 45 (in part: only the mention from Assam, the figure depicts a  Hebius khasiensis ); Mathew 1998: 132; Sharma 1998: 94; Zhao et al. 1998: 51 &amp; 65 (in part), 66: Fig. 19; Zhang 1999: 430 (in part); Orlov et al. 2000: 71 (in part, only the mentions of south-western China, Myanmar and India); Iskandar &amp; Colijn 2001: 96 (in part: except mentions from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam); Das 2002: 18 (text: in part, except mentions of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam; figure:  Hebius khasiensis ); Hallermann et al. 2002: 150; He &amp; Zhou 2002: 167 (in part); Ji 2002: 178 &amp; 179; Sharma 2003: 132 &amp; 133; Stotz et al. 2003: 100; Borang et al. 2005: 22; Sanyal &amp; Gayen 2006: 271 (in part) &amp; 283; Sharma 2007: 209 (in part: except mentions from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and “ Annam ”); Yang &amp; Rao 2008: 259 (in part); Luo et al. 2010: 74 (in part); Murthy 2010: 33; Zhang 2011: 277 (in part); Guo et al. 2014: 431. </p>
            <p> Amphiesma modestum . — Zhao et al. 2000b: 205; Das 2003: 473; David et al. 2005: 175; Whitaker 2006: 112; Zhao 2006: (Vol. I) 167 (in part; only for mentions from Yunnan; the status of the specimen depicted in Vol. II: p. 89: Fig. 51 is addressed below in the Discussion); Zhang 2009: 82 (in part: Fig. 81 does not depict this species); David et al. 2007: 41, 42, 54, 56, 57 &amp; 59; Das 2010: 333 (in part: except mentions of northern Laos, south-central Cambodia and central Vietnam); Bain &amp; Hurley 2011: 104 &amp; 128 (in part); David et al. 2013: 302, 308, 310, 312: Fig. 4C, 314, 324, 325, 326 &amp; 335. </p>
            <p> Amphiesma modestus . — Guo et al. 2014: 432. </p>
            <p> Hebius modesta .— Guo et al. 2014: 428 (specimen CAS 234262). </p>
            <p> Hebius modestum .— Guo et al. 2014: 437 &amp; 438. </p>
            <p> Hebius modestus .— Boundy 2020: 92; Wang et al. 2020, Appendix 2: 15; this work (see below in the Discussion). </p>
            <p> Natrix modesta modesta . — Bourret 1936b: 73 (in part: mentions from Assam and Yunnan; Fig. 30 on p. 74 refers to another species; see below). </p>
            <p>
                 Specimens examined (14).—   India. State of Meghalaya. BMNH 76.2.16.1–2, “Cherra Punji, Khasi Hills”, now Cherrapunji; BMNH 1946.1.13.40–41 (syntypes),  Khasi Hills ;  ZSI 4276, “Cherrapunji, Assam ”; ZSI 15263, “ Assam ”, no specified locality .—   Myanmar. Kachin State. BMNH 1925.4.2.16, “ Hutong,  Bhamo District ”, now Hutung;   BMNH 1925.9.17.2, BMNH 1925.12.22.22–23, “Huton, Kachin Hills”, now Hutung, Kachin Hills,  Bhamo District . Shan State.   MNHN 1893.0400, “Mts Carin, 1200–1300 m ”, now Mts. Karen, locality specified by Boulenger (1893b: 322) as “Thao, District of Karin Bia-po”, now Tahò, 19°23’N, 96°54’E,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 96.9/lat 19.383333)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=96.9&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=19.383333">Tauggyi District</a>
                 in extreme south-western Shan State.  —   People’s Republic of China. Yunnan Province. CAS 234262, Fangma Qiao River, 15–16 km from Longshan (Longling County,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.646996/lat 24.543917)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.646996&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=24.543917">Baoshan Prefecture</a>
                 ), 24°32’38.1”N, 98°38’49.2”E,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.646996/lat 24.543917)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.646996&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=24.543917">Mangshi County</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.646996/lat 24.543917)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.646996&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=24.543917">Dehong Dai</a>
                 and  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.646996/lat 24.543917)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.646996&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=24.543917">Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture</a>
                 , 1,140 m a.s.l.;   CIB 81II0366 (  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.646996/lat 24.543917)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.646996&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=24.543917">Nr</a>
                 8275),  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.646996/lat 24.543917)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.646996&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=24.543917">Baoshan</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.646996/lat 24.543917)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.646996&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=24.543917">Baoshan Prefecture</a>
                 ;   KIZ 75II0238,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.646996/lat 24.543917)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.646996&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=24.543917">Tongbiguan</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.646996/lat 24.543917)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.646996&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=24.543917">Yingjiang County</a>
                 ,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.646996/lat 24.543917)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.646996&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=24.543917">Dehong Dai</a>
                 and  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 98.646996/lat 24.543917)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=98.646996&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=24.543917">Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture</a>
                 . 
            </p>
            <p>Taxonomic comments.—This species was described on the basis of two specimens, as clearly stated by G̹nther (1875) in the original description. Boulenger (1893a: 229) also recognized two types. Wallach et al. (2014: 30) stated that Nguyen et al. (2009: 356) had designated specimen BMNH 1946.1.13.41 as the lectotype of the species. We consider this assertion to be erroneous as Nguyen et al. (2009: 356) only stated that this specimen was the “type”; this brief mention contravenes Art. 74.7 of the Code and cannot be construed as the valid designation of a lectotype.</p>
            <p> The chresonymy given above includes only those citations dealing with  Hebius modestus as currently conceived, although some refer to this species only in part.  Tropidonotus modestus G̹nther, 1875 has been one of the most confused species in the genera  Natrix and  Amphiesma . Whereas Anderson (1879; genuine specimens from Yunnan) and Boulenger (1890, 1893a) correctly described the species as conceived here, the confusion arose from Smith (1943: 290) who adopted a large, and quite erroneous, definition of  Natrix modesta and included under this name no less than four currently valid species, i.e.,  Hebius modestus ,  H. deschauenseei (Taylor) ,  H. groundwateri (Smith) and  H. inas (Laidlaw) .  Hebius boulengeri Gressitt, 1937 was not explicitly cited as a synonym by Smith (1943) but has been confused by this latter author and, more widely subsequently in the literature with  Hebius modestus for populations of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The chresonymy of  H. boulengeri can be found in David et al. (2013), with a list of the numerous citations of  Amphiesma modestum or  Natrix modesta referring to  Hebius boulengeri . As shown by David et al. (2013), most records of  Hebius modestus from southern China and Vietnam, and all those from Cambodia and Laos should refer to  Hebius boulengeri (for example, in Mell 1922; Angel 1929; Smith 1943 [see above in the chresonymy]; Campden-Main 1970; Deuve 1970; Saint Girons 1972 [in part]; Zhao &amp; Adler 1993; Nguyen et al. 1995, 2009; Daltry &amp; Chheang 2000; Grismer et al. 2007, 2008; Das 2010 [in part; see above in the chresonymy]; and Daltry &amp; Traeholt 2003; list not exhaustive; see David et al. 2013 for a more complete list). However, David et al. (2013) erroneously considered citations by Mell (1929: 5, 16, 145 [in part], 147 [in part] &amp; 157) to belong to the chresonymy of  Hebius boulengeri . In fact, as Mell mentioned specimens from “Osthimalaya” (i. e. Eastern Himalaya), he most likely made reference to  Hebius modestus or, perhaps to the new species described below. Furthermore, Nabhitabhata (1987) listed, without comments nor voucher specimens,  Amphiesma modestum from Doi Suthep-Pui National Park, Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand. This record may refer to  Hebius khasiensis (see David et al. 2013), or, more likely, to  Hebius deschauenseei (see below). Lastly, it should be noted that the treatise of “  Natrix modesta modesta ” in Bourret (1935b: 259 &amp; 261 [Reprint p. 1 &amp; 3]), Bourret (1936b: 73–74 [in part], 74: Fig. 30) and Bourret (1937: 27 &amp; 29) refer to the new species, related to  Hebius modestus , described below. </p>
            <p> Mahendra (1984: 244) erected the genus  Paranatrix (type species:  Tropidonotus modestus G̹nther, 1875, now  Hebius modestus , by original designation) for six species of the genus  Hebius present in India. Furthermore, Mahendra (1984: 247) synonymized  H. khasiensis with  H. modestus . This synonymy is erroneous as these species are morphologically distinct from each other. These two species differ by (1) the shape of their internasals, abruptly truncated vs. distinctly narrowing in  H. modestus , (2) the number of subcaudals, 87–111 vs. 104–122, (3) the pattern of supralabials, with distinct white, round, blotches vs. speckled with dark brown and scales edged with dark brown or blackish-brown, and (4) venter entirely pale vs. pale ochre-brown or pale brown on a wide central area, edged with dark brown.Additional characters can be found in David et al. (2013). However, the generic nomen  Paranatrix is an available name if the genus  Hebius has to be further split. </p>
            <p> As conceived here,  Hebius modestus is a well defined, purely Indo-Himalayan species that has a much more restricted range than that given by Smith (1943) or, for example by Nguyen et al. (2009) and Wallach et al. (2014) who considered  H. modestus to be widespread from India to South Vietnam. This species is monotypic. </p>
            <p> Diagnosis.—A moderately sized species of the genus  Hebius characterized by the combination of (1) 19-19-17 dorsal scale rows, barely or weakly keeled at midbody and on the posterior part of the body, smooth on 1 st DSR; (2) dorsal scales around the base of the tail weakly keeled; (3) head moderately distinct from the neck; (4) eye large; (5) maxillary teeth 27–30, the last two moderately enlarged; (6) tail long, with a ratio TaL/TL at least equal to 0.28 in females, up to 0.32 in males; (7) VEN 143–163; (8) SC 104–122; (9) prefrontal scales 2; (10) 1 or rarely 2 anterior temporals, rectangular and elongate; (11) venter pale ochre-brown or pale brown on a wide central area, broadly edged with dark brown or blackish on the outer quarter of ventrals, rarely entirely dark except on its most anterior part; (12) dorsal colour dark greyish-brown, brown or dark brown; (13) dorsum usually scattered with blackish-brown or black spots or blotches; (14) on each side, a more or less conspicuous, ochre-yellow, ochre-red, orange-brown or reddish-brown stripe, often reduced to a succession of elongate blotches on the anterior part of the body, extending from the nape to the base of the tail on 4 th– 7 th or 5 th– 7 th DSR, often but not always irregularly edged below and above by a series of large blackish-brown blotches; (15) no postocular streak; and (16) a short but broad, horizontal, pale yellowish-brown streak on the sides of the neck before the dorsolateral stripe, plus a streak on the nape behind the parietals. </p>
            <p> Comparison.  Hebius modestus differs from the group of  H. venningi , i.e.,  H. venningi ,  H. taronensis and  H. nigriventer , with which it might be sympatric in northern India and Myanmar (Kachin State) by (1) the number of 19 DSR at midbody; (2) the general dorsal pattern, usually striped and with dark blotches above and below the dorsolateral stripe vs. not striped but chequered or, in  H. nigriventer , with conspicuous, large dorsolateral blotches; (3) venter usually widely pale along its whole length, edged with blackish-brown, rarely entirely dark except on its most anterior part vs. (a) venter pale (coral red in life) mesially, on the anterior part of the body and dark, clouded posteriorly in  H. venningi ; (b) venter both pale and dark, i.e. with a pale background on its anterior part with irregular dark crossbands and nearly uniform on its posterior part in  H. taronensis and (c) venter nearly entirely very dark in  H. nigriventer ; and (4) a conspicuous yellow streak on the sides of the neck. </p>
            <p>Description (based on our specimens).—Body rather slender, elongate, cylindrical, barely stouter in large females; head elongate, subtriangular, moderately distinct from the thick neck, flattened anteriorly; snout elongate, obtuse or rectangular as seen from above, oblique seen in profile, flat, amounting for 25.2–28.6 % of HL, or 1.8–2.0 times as long as diameter of eye; nostrils placed dorsolaterally on the snout and directed dorsolaterally, small, round, piercing in the middle of the nasal; eye rather large, about 1.3–1.7 times as large as the distance between its lower margin and the margin of the lip, with a round pupil; tail long and tapering.</p>
            <p>The maximal known total length is 648 mm (SVL 440 mm; TaL 208 mm; specimen ZSI 15263) for a male. The longest known female is 618 mm long (SVL 433 mm, TaL 185 mm long; BMNH 76.2.16.1).</p>
            <p>Ratio TaL/TL: 0.288 –0.326, with a weak sexual dimorphism (see below).</p>
            <p>Dentition. 27–29 maxillary teeth gradually enlarging, the last 2 moderately enlarged, without diastema.</p>
            <p>Body scalation. DSR: 19-19-17 rows in all examined specimens; scales rhomboedric, feebly or moderately keeled at midbody; scales of 1 st DSR smooth; scales around the base of the tail only weakly keeled.</p>
            <p>VEN: 143–163 (plus 1 or 2 preventrals); SC: 104–122, all paired, with a strong sexual dimorphism (see below); cloacal plate divided.</p>
            <p>Ratio VEN/SC 1.36–1.52, without sexual dimorphism (see below).</p>
            <p>Position of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail: SC 21–29, without sexual dimorphism; ratio: length of the portion of tail with 6 dorsal scale rows/length of the portion of tail with 4 dorsal scale rows: 1.7–2.5.</p>
            <p>Head scalation. Arrangement of upper head scales complete including 2 internasals, 2 prefrontals, 2 supraoculars, 1 frontal, and 2 parietals. Rostral wider than high, barely visible from above; nasals more or less rectangular, not elongate, about 1.6–1.7 times longer than high, vertically divided above and below the nostril, with the posterior part equal to anterior one; internasals rather small, short, subtriangular, in broad contact with each other, about 1.0– 1.1 times longer than wide, distinctly narrowing anteriorly with an anterior margin about 0.35–0.45 times the width of the posterior margin; 2 prefrontals rather small, short, wider than long, 0.9–1.2 times as long as internasals; frontal large and wide, shield-like, 1.4–1.6 longer than wide and 2.0–2.4 times as long as the prefrontal; 1 supraocular on each side, subtriangular, 2.0–2.2 times longer than wide, about as wide as internasals; parietals large, elongate and broad, 1.6–1.9 times longer than the frontal, or suture between parietals 1.1–1.2 times longer than frontal; 1/1 loreal, pentagonal, short and high, 1.2–1.3 times longer than high, in broad contact with the nasal; 1/1 (in 4/ 12 specimens) or 2/2 preoculars, upper one larger than lower one; 2/2 (in 2/ 12 specimens) or 3/3 small postoculars; 9/9 SL in all examined specimens, the first five as long as high or longer than high, 1 st and 2 nd SL small and short, in contact with the nasal, 2 nd– 4 th SL or more rarely 2 nd– 3 rd SL (in 1/24 occurrences) or 3 rd– 4 th SL (2/24 occurrences) in contact with the loreal, 4 th– 6 th (5 th– 6 th in two specimens) SL entering orbit, 7 th and 8 th SL largest; 1 anterior temporal, elongate, rectangular, followed by 1, or rarely 2, posterior temporals, the most common formula being 1+1 temporals; 10/10 (9/ 9 in 1 specimen) infralabials, first pair in contact, 1 st– 5 th IL in contact with anterior chin shields, 5 th and 6 th IL largest; posterior chin shields longer than anterior ones.</p>
            <p>Coloration and pattern. The upper dorsal surface is overall dark, namely dark greyish-brown, chestnut-brown or dark brown, often distinctly darker on the back than on the lower sides; dorsum and lower sides ranging from nearly uniform, with only poorly defined very dark and paler areas, to distinctly scattered with very dark brown, blackish-brown or black spots; a broad dorsolateral stripe, ochre-yellow, yellowish-brown, ochre-red, orange-brown or reddish-brown extends on the 4 th– 7 th or 5 th– 7 th DSR from behind the neck to the base of the tail but is usually reduced to a succession of elongate blotches on the anterior part of the body, or is faint and entirely reduced to a succession of blotches along the whole length of the body, this dorsolateral stripe may be absent in nearly unpatterned specimens and is replaced by a series of ill-defined, paler reddish-brown areas; a series of darker brown or blackish-brown elongate blotches, on the top of the back on the 8 th DSR, next to the dorsolateral stripe or series of blotches, 1 scale long and high and longitudinally separated by 2 or 3 dorsal scales, sometimes absent; another series of irregular, elongate, darker brown or blackish-brown blotches below the dorsolateral stripe or series of blotches, on the 2 nd to 4 th DSR; these series of blotches are sometimes absent. The tail is brown as the upper surface of the body, with irregular darker blotches; if present on the body, the dorsolateral stripe or blotches are present on its dorsolateral part, or replaced by paler reddish-brown areas.</p>
            <p>The head is dark greyish-brown or dark brown, irregularly mottled with diffuse darker brown areas; loreal and nasal sometimes with irregular pale brown areas; 1 st– 7 th or 1 st– 8 th supralabials usually creamish-yellow, yellowish-brown or pale brown, usually speckled with dark brown and all edged with dark brown or blackish-brown on their posterior edge, sometimes entirely dark with their central part barely paler; last supralabial either entirely dark or with its lower part pale; no postocular streak; a conspicuous horizontal, creamish-yellow, ochre-yellow or yellowish-brown streak often present on the side of the neck, extending from behind the corner of the mouth up to the beginning of the dorsolateral stripe or its first blotch around the 10 th ventral; this streak may be entirely absent in poorly patterned specimens without dorsolateral stripe; a short median streak behind parietals; no oblique streak behind the head forming a chevron on the nape; infralabials, chin and throat cream, pale yellow-ochre or pale brown, with scattered dark brown spots along the outer edges of chin shields and throat, sometimes heavily spotted with dark brown; infralabials strongly edged with dark brown on their both anterior and posterior edges, and often strongly speckled with dark brown, sometimes entirely brown.</p>
            <p>The venter is always pale, i.e., beige, creamish-brown, pale yellow-ochre or pale brown on its whole length, nearly uniform or speckled with dark or blackish-brown dots along its middle, more heavily on its posterior part, progressively making the venter entirely dark on its last quarter in some specimens; outer part of each ventral with an irregular dark or blackish-brown blotch, progressively widening posteriorly, tips of ventrals usually pale as the inner part of the venter, producing an irregular, discontinuous ventrolateral stripe. Lower surface of tail either pale as the venter, heavily spotted with dark or blackish brown, or entirely dark brown or blackish-brown depending on the colour of the posterior part of the body; tip of tail very dark.</p>
            <p> We have not seen any genuine specimen of  Hebius modestus alive or depicted in life in the literature. As stated above, the specimen from Mizoram (India) depicted by Ahmed et al. (2009: 154) as  Amphiesma cf. modestum is indeed a specimen of  Hebius venningi . </p>
            <p>Hemipenes.—In situ, the hemipenis is short and thin, reaching the 8 th SC and forked near its tip, proximal part covered with short spines, 2 or 3 much larger; distal part covered with small, dense spines; sulcus spermaticus short and with small lips.</p>
            <p>Sexual dimorphism. — It is expressed in the following characters:</p>
            <p>(1) Strongly by the difference in the ratio TaL/TL: males: 0.320 –0.326 (mean = 0.323, s = 0.003); females: 0.288 –0.307 (mean = 0.299, s = 0.007).</p>
            <p>(2) Strongly by the difference in the number of subcaudals: males: 113–122 (mean = 117.0, s = 3.2); females: 104–109 (mean = 107.0, s = 2.2).</p>
            <p>Distribution (Fig. 12).— India. State of Meghalaya. Definitely known only from the Khasi Hills. State of Arunachal Pradesh. Tirip District; Lohit District (Borang et al. 2005).— Myanmar. Kachin State. Bhamo District. Shan State. Tahò, 19°23’N, 96°54’E, Tauggyi District.— People’s Republic of China. Yunnan Province. Mangshi County and Yingjiang County (Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture), in the extreme western part of the province.</p>
            <p>This species is probably also present in some other states of India, such as Nagaland, and in other districts of Kachin State in Myanmar, but it has yet to be found there.</p>
            <p> As explained above, previous records of  Hebius modestus from eastern Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam should be referred to other species, mostly  Hebius boulengeri . </p>
            <p> Biology.—This species inhabits evergreen or semi-evergreen submontane forest up to 1,600 m a.s.l. where it is seemingly associated with hill or montane forest streams. It inhabits the forest litter near these streams or in other riparian areas. Very little has been recorded about the biology of  Hebius modestus . It probably feeds on tadpoles and frogs. Wall (1926) recorded a female, preserved between June and August, that contained three large eggs in its oviducts. This species is either secretive or rare. </p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/383AEC41FFADFFCDFF6AF91CFD42CE22	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	David, Patrick;Vogel, Gernot;Nguyen, Truong Quang;Orlov, Nikolai L.;Pauwels, Olivier S. G.;Teynié, Alexandre;Ziegler, Thomas	David, Patrick, Vogel, Gernot, Nguyen, Truong Quang, Orlov, Nikolai L., Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Teynié, Alexandre, Ziegler, Thomas (2021): A revision of the dark-bellied, stream-dwelling snakes of the genus Hebius (Reptilia: Squamata: Natricidae) with the description of a new species from China, Vietnam and Thailand. Zootaxa 4911 (1): 1-61, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4911.1.1
383AEC41FFA8FFC1FF6AF989FD72CDCE.text	383AEC41FFA8FFC1FF6AF989FD72CDCE.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Hebius deschauenseei (Taylor 1934)	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> 7.  Hebius deschauenseei (Taylor, 1934)</p>
            <p>(Fig. 14)</p>
            <p> Natrix deschauenseei Taylor, 1934: 300 , 301: Figs. 2–4, Pl. 17: Fig. 5.— </p>
            <p> Type locality. “Chieng Mai, North Siam”, now Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.— Holotype. ANSP 19927, adult male; collected by R. M. de Schauensee, Janu-ary–March 1933.</p>
            <p> Natrix deschauenseei .— Bourret 1936a 103 (in part; the wide range given for this species is obviously erroneous); Taylor &amp; Elbel 1958: 1151; Taylor 1965: 825, 826: Fig. 52. </p>
            <p> Macropophis deschauenseei . — Bourret 1936b: 105. </p>
            <p> Amphiesma deschauenseei .— Malnate 1960: 50, 52 &amp; 56; Welch 1988: 30; Cox 1991: 234, 268: Pl. 76; Chan-ard et al. 1999: 30; Chanhome et al. 2001: 58; Nabhitabhata et al. 2004: 124; David et al. 2007: 41, 54, 56 &amp; 59 (in part: specimens from Thailand only); Pauwels et al. 2009: 77 &amp; 78; Das 2010: 331 (in part: mention of Thailand only); Bain &amp; Hurley 2011 (in part): 104 &amp; 128; Iskandar &amp; Colijn 2001: 95; Cox et al. 2012: 365 &amp; 366, 367 (in part: mentions of Thailand only); Das 2012: 113 (in part: mention of Thailand only); Chan-ard et al. 2015: 230. </p>
            <p> Hebius deschauenseei . — Guo et al. 2014: 438 (implicitely); Boundy 2020: 92. </p>
            <p> Natrix modesta (nec  Tropidonotus modestus G̹nther, 1875).— Mell 1929: 5, 16, 145 (in part: mention from “Nordsiam” only), 147 (in part: mention from “Nordsiam” only) &amp; 157; Smith 1943: 285, 290 &amp; 291. </p>
            <p> Amphiesma modesta .— Nabhitabhata 1987: 42. </p>
            <p> Specimens examined (17).—  Thailand. Chiang Mai Province. BMNH 1969.1721–1725, “Pa Meang, Me Nga, N. Siam”, BMNH 1974.5193, “Pa Meang, Me Nga, N. Thailand”, now in the vicinity of Pa Muang (or Pamuang); CUB MZ(R)5, Forestry Station, Doi Suthep, 3,000 ft; CUB MZ(R)36118, Doi Suthep; FMNH 178396–178398, Chiang Mai. Chiang Rai Province. BMNH 1969.1719, “Doi Chang”, now Doi Chang (Mt. Chang), Chiang Rai District. Unspecified locality. BMNH 1921.4.1.6–9, “Hills of North Siam”; CUB MZ(R)1999.63, “Thailand”.</p>
            <p> Taxonomic comments.—This species was recognized as valid in the genus  Natrix by Bourret (1936a) but Bourret (1936b) placed it in the genus  Macropophis Boulenger, 1893 , a genus that was considered a synonym of  Tropidonophis Jan, 1863 which includes natricid species of the Philippines, eastern Indonesia and Australasia (Malnate &amp; Underwood 1988). Subsequently  Natrix deschauenseei was synonymized with  N. modesta (G̹nther, 1875) by Smith (1943: 290), along with three other species now considered to be valid (see above under the account of  Hebius modestus ). Subsequently, the validity of  Natrix deschauenseei was recognized by Taylor &amp; Elbel (1958) and Taylor (1965), and accepted by all subsequent authors, although  H. deschauenseei has not always been correctly identified, for example by Nabhitabhata (1987) who confused it with  H. modestus (see above).  Hebius deschauenseei is monotypic. </p>
            <p> Diagnosis.—A moderately to large sized species of the genus  Hebius characterized by the combination of (1) 19-19-17 dorsal scale rows, moderately or weakly keeled at midbody, more strongly keeled posteriorly excepted scales of the 1 st DSR, all smooth; (2) dorsal scales around the base of the tail weakly keeled; (3) head moderately distinct from the neck; (4) eye rather large; (5) 29–30 maxillary teeth, the last two moderately enlarged; (6) tail long and tapering, with a ratio TaL/TL at least equal to 0.33; (7) VEN 149–168; (8) SC 115–141; (9) prefrontal 2; (10) usually 5 th– 6 th SL entering orbit; (11) 1 anterior temporal; (12) venter never entirely dark: along its whole length, creamish-yellow or pale yellowish-grey with three parallel rows of dark blotches, one on the outer part of each ventral, and one on the central part of the venter producing three irregular, parallel stripes separated from each other by a narrow, pale area; (13) dorsum and sides olive-brown, olive-grey or greyish-brown, sometimes dark brown; (14) dorsal surface with irregular, blackish-brown or very dark grey blotches, not producing a chequered pattern; (15) a dorsolateral series of large, elongate blotches, yellow-ochre, rusty red or yellowish-brown, enlarged on the first quarter to third of the body, progressively smaller and united, forming a dorsolateral stripe, usually extending along the whole of the body on the 4 th– 5 th or 5 th– 6 th dorsal scale rows; (16) postocular streak present, not visible in dark specimens; and (17) an ochre-yellow or yellowish-brown streak on each side of the neck and nape forming an incomplete collar. </p>
            <p>Description.—Body rather slender, stouter in large females, cylindrical; head moderately elongate, triangular, moderately distinct from the thick neck, flattened anteriorly; snout elongate, obtuse or squarish as seen from above, oblique seen in profile, flat, 25.9–31.3 % of HL, or 1.7–2.1 times as long as diameter of eye; nostrils small, round, placed dorsolaterally on the snout and directed slightly dorsolaterally; eye rather large, about 1.5–1.8 times as large as the distance between its lower margin and the margin of the lip, with a round pupil; tail long and tapering.</p>
            <p>The maximal known total length is 553 mm (SVL 368 mm; TaL 185 mm; specimen BMNH 1969.1721, female) but specimen BMNH 1969.1719, with an incomplete tail and a SVL 556 mm long, should have reached a total length of ca. 850 mm. The longest known male is 484 mm long (SVL 312 mm, TaL 172 mm long; CUB MZ(R) 36118).</p>
            <p>Ratio TaL/TL: 0.327 –0.378, without sexual dimorphism.</p>
            <p>Dentition. 29–36 maxillary teeth gradually enlarging, the last 2 to 4 moderately enlarged, without diastema.</p>
            <p>Body scalation. DSR: 19-19-17 rows; scales rhomboedric, weakly or moderately keeled; scales of 1 st DSR smooth; dorsal scales around the base of the tail not strongly keeled.</p>
            <p>VEN: 149–168 (plus 2 or 3 preventrals); SC: 115–141, all paired, with a weak sexual dimorphism; cloacal plate divided.</p>
            <p>Ratio VEN/SC 1.11–1.32.</p>
            <p>Position of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail: SC 5–22, with a strong sexual dimorphism (see below); ratio: length of the portion of tail with 6 dorsal scale rows/length of the portion of tail with 4 dorsal scale rows: 1.2–2.4 with a sexual dimorphism.</p>
            <p>Head scalation. Arrangement of upper head scales complete including 2 internasals, 2 prefrontals, 2 supraoculars, 1 frontal, and 2 parietals. Rostral wider than high, barely visible from above; nasals subrectangular, elongate, about 1.4–1.6 times longer than high, vertically divided above and below the nostril, with the posterior part equal to anterior one; internasals subtriangular, in broad contact with each other, about 1.0–1.2 times longer than wide, distinctly narrowing anteriorly with an anterior margin about 0.4–0.5 times the width of the posterior margin; 2 prefrontals, rather small, short but wide, distinctly broader than long, 1.0–1.3 times longer than internasals; frontal large and elongate, shield-like, 1.2–1.6 longer than wide and 1.8–2.4 times longer than prefrontal; 1 supraocular on each side, subtriangular, 2.0–2.2 times longer than wide, about as wide as internasals; parietals large and broad, 1.8–2.2 times longer than the frontal, or suture between parietals 1.2–1.4 times longer than frontal; 1/1 loreal, pentagonal with its apex directed backwards, distinctly elongate, 1.4–1.8 times longer than high, in broad contact with the nasal; 2/2 preoculars in all examined specimens, upper one larger than lower one; 2/2 or more rarely 3/3 small postoculars; usually 9/9 SL (8/ 9 in 1/ 18 specimens, 10/ 9 in 1/18 and 10/ 10 in 2/18), the first five as long as high or longer than high, 1 st and 2 nd SL small and short, in contact with the nasal, 2 nd– 4 th SL or 3 rd– 4 th SL (2 nd– 3 rd SL in 1/ 18 specimens) in contact with the loreal, mostly 5 th– 6 th SL entering orbit (in 29/36 occurrences), also 4 th– 6 th SL (3/36), 5 th– 7 th or 6 th– 7 th (in 2/36 occurrences each), 7 th and 8 th SL largest; 1 anterior temporal, rectangular, elongate, narrowing anteriorly, followed by 2 or 1+1/1 posterior temporals, the most common formula being 1+2 temporals; 10/10 (in 17/18 occurrences) or 9/10 (1/18) infralabials, first pair in contact, 1 st– 5 th IL in contact with anterior chin shields, 5 th and 6 th IL largest; posterior chin shields longer than anterior ones.</p>
            <p>Coloration and pattern. This species is quite variable. The dorsal surface and sides are pale olive-brown, olivegrey, pale greyish-brown, bronze-brown, dark reddish-brown or dark brown; scale rows of the upper dorsal surface distinctly darker, up to blackish-brown; on the sides, scales may be pale centered and indistinctly edged with minute dark brown blotches; two or three series of small, irregular dark blotches on the sides; dorsal surface with usually two or three series of irregular, elongate, blackish-brown or very dark grey blotches, rather faint in darker specimens but conspicuous in paler ones, the series just above the dorsolateral stripe more conspicuous; another series of dark, elongate blotches just below the dorsolateral stripe; a faint dorsolateral stripe, reddish-brown or brown, extending from the neck to the base of the tail barely visible, on which is superposed a conspicuous series of dorsolateral bright yellow, yellow-ochre, rusty red or yellowish-brown blotches on the 4 th– 6 th then 5 th– 6 th DSR, much enlarged, distinctly elongate or X-shaped, or as high as long on the first fifth to quarter of the body, 2 to 2.5 scales high and long, progressively smaller and more elongate, forming a chain, then united and forming a narrow, dorsolateral stripe posteriorly, 1.5 to 2 scales high; lower part of scales of the 1 st dorsal row largely dark brown or blackish-brown, forming an irregular, ventrolateral dark stripe. The tail is as the body surface, speckled with small dark blotches and spots and with a yellow-ochre, rusty red or yellowish-brown narrow, irregular dorsolateral stripe, no more than 1 scale high, progressively vanishing around the posterior half of the tail.</p>
            <p>The head is olive-brown, olive-grey or brown, upper head surface with irregular darker vermiculations or irregular areas; rostral and sides of the snout paler; an oblique streak on the outer edge of each parietal present or absent; 4 or 5 anterior supralabials strongly powdered with olive-brown, greyish-brown or pale brown, edged with dark brown or blackish-brown; a broader suture, dark brown or blackish-brown, on the posterior edge of 6 th and 7 th SL; 7 th, 8 th and 9 th SL (when present) pale yellowish-brown or yellowish-grey, also edged with blackish-brown; a dark postocular streak, oblique or Z-like, i.e., straight, then strongly oblique then straight, extends from behind the eye or from postoculars to the corner of the mouth on the top of the 8 th and 9 th SL and temporals; a poorly-defined, paler area on temporals above the dark postocular streak; an irregular yellow-ochre or brownish-yellow, oblique streak directed upwards and backwards, extending from the corner of the mouth and the pale area on the temporals to the nape, forming a short chevron, sometimes faint or nearly absent; a thin streak of same colour extending from the interparietal suture to the apex of the chevron. Infralabials, chin and throat yellowish-cream or pale yellowishbrown, often nearly uniform with a few dark brown spots on chin shields and throat, sometimes heavily spotted with dark brown spots; infralabials more or less broadly and distinctly edged with dark brown on both their anterior and posterior edges.</p>
            <p>The venter is never entirely dark but contains dark blotches in its middle: background colour creamish-yellow, yellowish-brown, beige ochre-brown, or olive-grey, darker posteriorly; tips and extreme outer part of ventrals dark brown; 3 parallel series of blotches or spots, olive-grey, dark grey, brown, dark brown or blackish-brown, extending from the neck to the vent: one located on the mesial part of the ventrals, the two outer ones located at the level of the outer third of each ventral, not in contact with the dark hues of the ventral tip; usually only the two outer series begin at the neck, the central one beginning at level of the 10 th– 15 th ventral, or, in an opposite way, the central stripe begins first, the two lateral ones farther back; these blotches are more or less enlarged, those of the outer series triangular with their apex directed posteriorly, those of the central one wider, looking as a flat, irregular triangle or more irregular; the three series may be close but never united, or even distinctly separated when they are made of rather small spots, widening posteriorly; sometimes, these series are barely visible in specimens with a rather dark venter. Tail dark greyish-brown, dark brown or blackish-brown, covered with 3 series of irregular blotches narrowly separated by a thin, pale line, turning to entirely dark on its posterior half; outer edge of subcaudals pale, forming a narrow line.</p>
            <p>In life, the background coloration is as described above in preservative; the upper dorsal surface, between the dorsolateral stripes, is distinctly darker than the lateral sides; the various upper lateral and dorsolateral dark blotches are very dark grey, dark brown or blackish-brown; the dorsal stripe, rusty-brown or reddish-brown, is more visible than in preservative; the main dorsolateral blotches are bright yellowish-ochre, orange or reddish-brown; the dark ventrolateral stripe is dark brown or blackish-brown. Pale markings on the head are yellowish-ochre, greyish-yellow or reddish-brown; the elongate blotch on the temporal region, on the hind part of the head and on the neck is yellowish-ochre, reddish-ochre or reddish-brown. The background colour of the throat and venter is pale greyish-yellow, yellowish-grey or pale reddish-brown; the dark blotches forming the three parallel series of blotches or spots are in various shades of brown.</p>
            <p>Hemipenes.—The hemipenis of this species has not been examined.</p>
            <p>Sexual dimorphism. — It is expressed in the following characters:</p>
            <p>(1) Strongly by the difference in the number of subcaudal scales: males: 124–141 (mean = 130.0, s = 6.4); females: 113–124 (mean = 117.8, s = 4.8).</p>
            <p>(2) Strongly by the difference in the position (counted in subcaudals) of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail: males: SC 14–22 (mean = 17.9, s = 2.5); females: SC 5–13 (mean = 9.6, s = 3.0).</p>
            <p>(3) Strongly by the difference in length of the portion of tail with 6 dorsal scale rows/length of the portion of tail with 4 dorsal scale rows: 1.2–1.8 in 8 males, 2.0– 2.4 in 5 females.</p>
            <p>Distribution (Fig. 12).— Thailand. According to our specimens and Chan-ard et al. (2015): Chiang Mai Province. Chiang Mai; Doi Inthanon; Doi Suthep; Pa Muang (or Pamuang). Chiang Rai Province. Doi Chang (Mt. Chang), Chiang Rai District. Uthai Thani Province. Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary.</p>
            <p> Cox et al. (2012: 367) mentioned the occurrence of this species in Loei Province, North-east Thailand. According to M. J. Cox (personal communication, June 2018), this record merely results from a lapsus. There is not any record to support the occurrence of  H. deschauenseei in this province. </p>
            <p>Biology.—According to Chan-ard et al. (2015), this species inhabits semi-evergreen and mixed deciduous submontane and montane forest. It is nocturnal and terrestrial and occurs in the vicinity of forest streams. Nothing else is known of the biology of this rare species.</p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/383AEC41FFA8FFC1FF6AF989FD72CDCE	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	David, Patrick;Vogel, Gernot;Nguyen, Truong Quang;Orlov, Nikolai L.;Pauwels, Olivier S. G.;Teynié, Alexandre;Ziegler, Thomas	David, Patrick, Vogel, Gernot, Nguyen, Truong Quang, Orlov, Nikolai L., Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Teynié, Alexandre, Ziegler, Thomas (2021): A revision of the dark-bellied, stream-dwelling snakes of the genus Hebius (Reptilia: Squamata: Natricidae) with the description of a new species from China, Vietnam and Thailand. Zootaxa 4911 (1): 1-61, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4911.1.1
383AEC41FFA4FFD9FF6AF9E4FD8ECDEA.text	383AEC41FFA4FFD9FF6AF9E4FD8ECDEA.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Hebius igneus David & Vogel & Nguyen & Orlov & Pauwels & Teynié & Ziegler 2021	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> 8.  Hebius igneus spec. nov.</p>
            <p>(Figs. 15–16)</p>
            <p> Tropidonotus modestus (nec  Tropidonotus modestus G̹nther, 1875).— Bourret 1927: 237 (?). </p>
            <p> Natrix modesta (nec  Tropidonotus modestus G̹nther, 1875).— Bourret 1936b: 72 (in part), 73 (in part: mention from “ Tonkin ” and description of the venter as “Dessous ... presque entièrement noirâtre”); Bourret 1939a: 42 (by inference); Bourret 1939b (in part: mention from Tam Dao, by inference): 53; Tran et al. 1981: 380 (?; tentatively but this mention does not refer to  Hebius boulengeri ). </p>
            <p> Amphiesma modesta .— Dao 1981: 7; Dao 1982: 8 (species with 19 DSR); Nguyen et al. 1995: 32; Zhao et al. 1998: 66 (in part: only specimens of Table 14 listed below in the non-type specimens); Orlov et al. 2000: 71 (in part: mention of Tam Dao); Le et al. 2001: 27; Bain &amp; Nguyen 2004: 7; Ho et al. 2005: 99 (?); Nguyen et al. 2005a: 75 (in part: mentions from Vietnam except that from Gia Lai); Nguyen et al. 2005b: 120; Orlov 2005: 33 (in part). </p>
            <p> Amphiesma modestum .— Ziegler &amp; Le 2006: 40, 41 &amp; 49; Nguyen et al. 2009: 354 (in part: probably the mentions from the provinces of Cao Bang and Ha Giang); Ziegler et al. 2007: 20, 22 &amp; 23. </p>
            <p> Natrix modesta modesta (nec  Tropidonotus modestus G̹nther, 1875).— Bourret 1935b: 259 &amp; 261 (Reprint p. 1 &amp; 3); Bourret 1936b: 73 &amp; 74 (in part: mention from “ Tonkin ” and description of the venter as “Dessous ... presque entièrement noirâtre], 74: Fig. 30 (specimen from Tam Dao); Bourret 1937: 27 &amp; 29; Bourret 1939b (in part: mention from Tam Dao, by inference): 53. </p>
            <p> Amphiesma deschauenseei (nec  Natrix deschauenseei Taylor, 1934 ).— Nguyen et al. 2009: 354 (in part); Bain &amp; Hurley 2011: 104 &amp; 128; Guo et al. 2014: 428: Table 1, 434: Fig. 2A, 435: Fig. 2 B–C (specimen AMNH 148575 from Vietnam). </p>
            <p>  Holotype.— IEBR 2295, an adult female, from Ban Cai, 21°51’714N, 106°58’063E, elevation: 350–450m,  Duc Xuan , Na Hang District, Tuyen Quang Province, Vietnam. Collected by Truong Quang Nguyen, Kien Van Doan and Cuc Thu Ho, 21 May 2004. </p>
            <p>
                 Paratypes (8 specimens).— VIETNAM. IEBR A.2018.2 (Field number ROM 28638), a stream on the east side of the village of Tam Dao (21°27’31”N, 105°38′61”E), elevation 925 m, Tam Dao Hill Station; collected by Cuc Thu Ho, Sergei A. Ryabov and Nikolai L. Orlov, July 2001. Lào Cai Province.  IEBR A.2018.3 (Field number ROM 03474), Fan Si Pan mountain range (22°19’N, 103°47’ E), elevation 1,900 m,  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 103.78333/lat 22.316668)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=103.78333&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=22.316668">Sa Pa District</a>
                 ; collected by Cuc Thu Ho, Sergei A. Ryabov and Eugenyi Rybaltovsky, July 2001.—  PEOPLE’ S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. Yunnan Province. CIB R579003 (Nr 8278), Xishuangbanna, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. -  KIZ 75I324,  Lafu ,  Menglian ,  Pu’er Prefecture ;   KIZ 75I423,  Menglian ,  Menglian Dai ,  Lahu and Va Autonomous County, Pu’er Prefecture;   KIZ 79I195, KIZ 79I300, Manlai, Daxueshan,  Yongde County , Lincang Prefecture  . 
            </p>
            <p> Additional specimens (2).—  VIETNAM. Ha Giang Province. AMNH 148575, Mt. Tay Con Linh II, Cao Bao Commune, Vi Xuyen County; collected by Raoul Bain &amp; Truong Quang Nguyen, May 2000. Vinh Phuc Province .  THAILAND. Nan Province. FMNH 271591, Amphoe Pua (i.e, Pua District) . </p>
            <p> Taxonomic note. This species has long been known in the literature, at least since Bourret (1935b: 259 &amp; 261 [Reprint p. 1 &amp; 3]), under the combination  Natrix modesta modesta , and appeared again in Bourret (1936b: 73–74 [in part], 74: Fig. 30), Bourret (1937: 27 &amp; 29) and Bourret (1939b: 53, by inference) under the same combination.  Hebius igneus spec. nov. was even depicted by Bourret (1936b: 74: Fig. 30). Subsequently, this species has been identified as  Amphiesma deschauenseei or  A. modesta , now  Hebius deschauenseei and  Hebius modestus , respectively; see the chresonymy given above. </p>
            <p> Diagnosis.—A moderately to large sized species of the genus  Hebius , defined by the combination of the following characters: (1) 19-19-17 dorsal scale rows, feebly or moderately keeled at midbody, more strongly keeled posteriorly at the exception of the scales of the 1 st DSR, all smooth; (2) dorsal scales around the base of the tail strongly keeled; (3) head moderately distinct from the neck; (4) eye rather large; (5) maxillary teeth 29–30, the last two moderately enlarged; (6) tail long, with a ratio TaL/TL at least equal to 0.295; (7) VEN 159–169; (8) SC 115–129; (9) prefrontals 2; (10) one anterior temporal; (11) venter overall dark, i.e., dark brown, blackish-brown or black, with either pale irregular streaks or with several parallel, connected rows of dark blotches separated from each other by a narrow, irregular pale area; (12) dorsal surface and sides dark brown, dark chestnut-brown or blackish-brown, irregularly spotted by the presence of blackish-brown or black scales, darker than the background colour; (13) a dorsolateral series of bright orange, coral or rusty red blotches (yellow in preservative), distinctly enlarged behind the neck and at least on the anterior half of the body, then progressively smaller but always visible; these blotches may be connected and form a distinct dorsolateral line; (14) a dark postocular streak present; and (15) an ochre-yellow or yellowish-brown streak on each side of the neck and nape forming an incomplete collar. </p>
            <p> Morphological comparisons of  Hebius igneus spec. nov. with other species.—Because of its peculiar dorsal pattern made of distinct, aligned bright dorsolateral blotches combined with an overall dark venter, we here put emphasis on the colour and patterns in comparing the new species with other species. </p>
            <p> Hebius igneus spec. nov. differs from  H. annamensis (Bourret) ,  H. atemporalis (Bourret) ,  H. chapaensis (Bourret) ,  H. groundwateri (Smith) ,  H. nigriventer (Wall) new. comb.,  H. sauteri (Boulenger) (including the subspecies H. s. bourreti and H. s. maximus),  H. taronensis (Smith) , and  H. venningi (Wall) , as well as three species present in Borneo, i.e.,  H. arquus (David &amp; Vogel) ,  H. frenatus (Dunn) and  H. sarawacensis (G̹nther), in having 19 DSR vs. 17 rows in all these species and sometimes 15 in  H. annamensis . Furthermore, by its largely black venter,  Hebius igneus spec. nov. further differs from the mainland species  H. annamensis ,  H. atemporalis ,  H. groundwateri ,  H. sauteri , and  H. venningi which have a large part of the venter pale. </p>
            <p> Among the numerous species with 19 dorsal scale rows,  Hebius igneus spec. nov. differs by its dorsal pattern from a number of distinctly striped species such as  Amphiesma stolatum (Linnaeus) , and  Hebius bitaeniatus (Wall) ,  H. clerki (Wall) ,  H. metusia (Inger, Zhao, Shaffer &amp; Wu) ,  H. octolineatus (Boulenger) and  H. parallelus (Boulenger) (see David et al. 2005) which display pale and dark dorsal stripes. Furthermore, these species have a pale venter and a lower number of subcaudals. </p>
            <p> Also by its dorsal and ventral patterns,  Hebius igneus spec. nov. differs from species with 19 DSR of the  Hebius khasiensis -group, hence containing  H. khasiensis (Boulenger) ,  H. boulengeri (Gressitt) ,  H. craspedogaster (Boulenger) ,  H. inas (Laidlaw) ,  H. johannis (Boulenger) ,  H. kerinciensis (David &amp; Das) , and  H. leucomystax (David, Bain, Nguyen, Orlov, Vogel, Vu &amp; Ziegler) . All these species have dorsolateral spots and stripes but the blotches are smaller and all these species have a pale venter at the exception of the tips of ventrals. Furthermore, both H. khasiensis and  H. inas differ from  Hebius igneus spec. nov. by the pattern of their supralabials, composed of distinct, pale blotches in  H. khasiensis and  H. inas , at least on the posterior supralabials. Furthermore,  Hebius igneus spec. nov. differs from  H. leucomystax (David, Bain, Nguyen, Orlov, Vogel, Vu &amp; Ziegler) and  H. lacrima Purkayastha &amp; David by its overall dark supralabials vs. supralabials largely white in these two latter species, plus by its venter largely dark, and its different dorsal pattern. </p>
            <p> In the same way,  Hebius igneus spec. nov. differs from  H. optatus (Hu &amp; Zhao) and  H. andreae (Ziegler &amp; Le) by its dorsal pattern made of conspicuous dorsolateral blotches vs. patterns made of vertical, narrow or wide crossbars, without longitudinal dorsolateral stripes or series of dots in these two latter species. Malnate (1962) referred  Hebius craspedogaster ,  H. popei ,  H. pryeri ,  H. sauteri and  H. vibakari in a distinct species group, named as the “  Amphiesma vibakari -group”. Besides  H. sauteri , which has 17 DSR at midbody,  Hebius igneus spec. nov. differs from these species by its dorsal and ventral patterns and by its higher number of subcaudals. </p>
            <p> Hebius igneus spec. nov. obviously shares one or more characters with other species of “dark-bellied”  Hebius , as treated here. However, for summarizing,  Hebius igneus spec. nov. differs from  H. annamensis ,  H. chapaensis ,  H. deschauenseei ,  H. modestus ,  H. nigriventer ,  H. taronensis and  H. venningi by the combination of the following characters: (1) 19 DSR at midbody, (2) scales near vent and the base of the tail strongly keeled, (3) at least 159 ventrals, (4) a dorsolateral series of bright orange, coral or rusty red elongate blotches, larger anteriorly but extending behind half of the body, and (5) several parallel series of dark blotches on the venter more or less separated by narrow pale stripes. Tentatively included in this group but not addressed here,  Hebius xenura (Wall) , which has also 19 DSR at midbody and dorsal blotches, differs from  Hebius igneus spec. nov. by (1) its undivided subcaudals (vs. divided in  H. igneus ), (2) fewer subcaudals, i.e., 92–105 vs. 115–129, and (3) its ventral pattern, pale with tips of ventrals dark vs. venter overall dark. </p>
            <p> As shown above,  Hebius annamensis ,  H. chapaensis ,  H. nigriventer ,  H. venningi , and  H. taronensis have 17 DSR at midbody (or 15 in  H. annamensis ) vs. 19 in  Hebius igneus spec. nov. Furthermore,  H. annamensis and  H. venningi have a venter largely pale mesially or, in  H. venningi , pale mesially on the anterior part of the body, clouded with darker hues of brown on the outer parts of ventrals and entirely clouded posteriorly. </p>
            <p> Among the other two species of this group with 19 DSR at midbody,  Hebius igneus spec. nov. differs from  H. modestus by (1) dorsal scales before the base of the tail and supracaudal scales just after strongly keeled vs. weakly keeled in  H. modestus , (2) slightly more ventrals, 159–169 VEN vs. 143–163, (3) venter overall dark brown, blackish-brown or black, with either pale irregular streaks or with several parallel, connected rows of dark blotches separated from each other by a narrow, irregular pale area vs. venter pale ochre-brown or pale brown on a wide central area, broadly edged with dark brown or blackish-brown on the outer quarter of ventrals, rarely nearly overally dark except on its anterior part, (4) a dorsolateral series of bright orange, coral or rusty red blotches, distinctly enlarged behind the neck and at least on the anterior half of the body, then progressively smaller but always visible vs. a more or less conspicuous, ochre-yellow, ochre-red, orange-brown or reddish-brown stripe, often reduced to a succession of elongate blotches on the anterior part of the body, and (5) a dark postocular streak present vs. no such streak. </p>
            <p> Lastly,  Hebius igneus spec. nov. is more similar to  H. deschauenseei , from which it differs as follows: (1) supracaudal scales around the base of the tail strongly keeled vs. weakly keeled in  H. deschauenseei , (2) Ratio TaL/TL, 0.30–0.33 vs. 0.33–0.38, (3) venter overally dark after the 5 th– 8 th ventrals, i.e., dark brown, blackish-brown or black, with 4 or 5 parallel, connected rows of dark blotches separated from each other by a narrow, irregular pale area vs. venter never entirely dark along its whole length, creamish-yellow or pale yellowish-grey with three parallel stripes of aligned dark blotches separated from each other by a pale area in  H. deschauenseei , (4) dorsal surface and sides dark brown, dark chestnut-brown or blackish-brown vs. olive-brown, olive-grey or greyish-brown, (5) dorsolateral blotches, distinctly enlarged behind the neck and at least on the anterior half of the body, then progressively smaller but always distinct vs. dorsolateral blotches not as enlarged anteriorly and progressively smaller and united, forming a dorsolateral stripe, and (6) a dark postocular streak present vs. postocular streak absent or barely visible. </p>
            <p> Although it is a juvenile with a rather pale venter anteriorly, specimen FMNH 271591 from Nan Province, Thailand, is here referred to  Hebius igneus spec. nov. , and not to  H. deschauenseei . Its strongly keeled scales in the region of the base of the tail (vs. weakly keeled), its ventral pattern, overally black, and its dorsal pattern are typical of  H. igneus spec. nov.</p>
            <p> Etymology.—The specific nomen is the Latin adjective  igneus (a, um) which means “in fire”. This specific name was coined by analogy to the large bright orange dorsolateral blotches on the forepart of the body. </p>
            <p> We suggest the following common names: Fire-back Keelback (English),  Hébius igné (French), Feuerfleckige Wassernatter (German), Huo Wen Fu Lian She (ẊỠẘdzdz) (Chinese), Ngu Lai-sab Fai (Thai) and Rắn sãi lửa (Vietnamese). </p>
            <p>Description of the holotype (Fig. 15).— General morphology. Body rather robust but elongate; head moderately elongate (4.0% of SVL), moderately distinct from the thick neck, flattened anteriorly in front of the eyes; snout elongate, subrectangular as seen from above, oblique seen in profile, 30.4% of HL, or 2.2 times as long as horizontal diameter of the eye; nostrils distinctly placed dorsolaterally on the snout and directed slightly dorsolaterally, round, quite large, piercing the middle of nasal; eye rather large, diameter 1.4 times as large as the distance between its lower margin and the margin of the lip, with a round pupil; tail cylindrical, long and tapering.</p>
            <p>Size. - SVL: 534 mm; TaL: truncated; HL: 21.4 mm; ratio TaL/TL: not available.</p>
            <p>Dentition. - Maxillary teeth: 28 gradually increasing in size + 2 distinctly enlarged teeth, without diastema.</p>
            <p>Body scalation. - DSR: 19-19-17 scales, scales rhomboedric, not notched at their distal end, weakly keeled at midbody, more strongly keeled posteriorly at the exception of the scales of the 1 st DSR, all smooth; scales before vent and around the base of the tail strongly keeled.</p>
            <p>Dorsal scale row reduction:</p>
            <p>4+5 + 4 (9) 4+5 + 4 (98)</p>
            <p>21 ——————— 19 ——————— 17</p>
            <p>4+5 + 4 (10) 4+5 + 4 (101)</p>
            <p>165 VEN (+ 2 preventrals);&gt; 50 SC (incomplete tail), all paired. Cloacal plate divided.</p>
            <p>Position of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail: 13 th SC. Length, in number of subcaudals spanned, of the portion of tail with 6 caudal scale rows (see Malnate &amp; Underwood 1988): 26; length of tail with 4 caudal scale rows: unavailable, tail truncated; ratio: length with 6 dorsal scale rows/length of the portion of tail with 4 dorsal scale rows: unavailable.</p>
            <p>Head scalation. - Arrangement of upper head scales complete including 2 internasals, 2 prefrontals, 2 supraoculars, 1 frontal, and 2 parietals. Rostral wider than high, barely visible from above; nasals subrectangular, nearly pentagonal, distinctly elongate, about 2.0 times longer than high, vertically divided above and below the nostril, with the posterior part equal to anterior one; internasals subtriangular, in broad contact with each other, about 1.0–1.2 times longer than wide, distinctly narrowing anteriorly, the width of the anterior margin about 0.5 times of the posterior margin; 2 prefrontals, rather small, short but wide, distinctly broader than long, 1.1 times longer than internasals; frontal large and elongate, shield-like, 1.45 times longer than wide and 2.0 times longer than prefrontal; 1/1 supraocular, subtriangular and elongate, 2.0/1.8 times longer than wide, about as wide as internasals; parietals large and broad, 1.9 times longer than the frontal, or suture between parietals 1.3 times longer than frontal; 1/1 loreal, pentagonal, moderately elongate, 1.4 times longer than high, in broad contact with the nasal; 2/2 preoculars, upper one larger than lower one; 2/2 small postoculars; 9/9 SL, 1 st longer than high, 2 nd– 6 th slightly higher than long, 7 th– 9 th large and longer than high, 1 st and 2 nd SL in contact with the nasal, 2 nd– 4 th SL in contact with the loreal, 4 th– 6 th (left) and 5 th– 6 th (right) SL entering orbit, 7 th and 8 th SL largest, 9 th rather short; 1/1 anterior temporal, rectangular, elongate, slightly narrowing anteriorly, followed by 1+1/1 (left) and 1+1 (right) posterior temporals; 10/10 infralabials, first pair in contact, 1 st– 5 th IL in contact with anterior chin shields, 5 th and 6 th IL largest; posterior chin shields longer than anterior ones.</p>
            <p>Coloration in alcohol. - Body blackish-brown, slightly darker on the top of the body than on its sides; many scales of the sides edged with blackish-brown or black and, also, somewhat paler in their middle; some scales of the sides of the body darker than the dorsal background colour, producing darker spots; a series of conspicuous, elongate dorsolateral, yellow blotches on 6 th and 7 th dorsal scale rows (66 at left, 68 at right), 2 to 2.5 DSR long and 1.5 to 2 scales high on the neck, distinctly enlarged, then 1 to 1.5 scale long and 1.5 to 2 scale high, often irregularly split into two parts on fore third of the body, progressively smaller, irregularly split after midbody and reduced to a spot posteriorly but always visible; no dorsolateral stripe.</p>
            <p>The tail is of the same background colour than the body but without any spot or other mark on its top and sides.</p>
            <p>Head blackish-brown above with some scattered beige dots on internasals, prefrontals and cephalic region; a short, faint, cream sagittal line just behind the suture between parietals; rostral and nasals slightly paler than upper head surface; a very thin and faint (barely visible at right), yellowish-brown, postocular streak extending obliquely downwards from the upper postocular along the anterior outer edge of each parietal then across upper temporals up to the upper edge of the 9 th SL; supralabials with a blackish-brown background colour; 1 st to 6 th supralabials somewhat paler near their anterior suture, more conspicuous on the edge of 6 th SL; 7 th SL yellowish-cream on a large oblique part of its central area with only the top and bottom of the scale blackish-brown; a small area near the lower anterior margin of 8 th SL also yellowish-cream, forming with the central area of 7 th SL a conspicuous, elongate and oblique marking; posterior part of 9 th SL pale yellowish-brown; in contrast, the upper parts of 7 th, 8 th and 9 th SL, and anterior temporal uniformly black, forming a large, oblique postocular streak extending from behind the eye to the corner of the mouth and slightly beyond; sides of the neck yellowish-cream, strongly spotted with blackish-brown, from which extends a yellowish-cream, oblique streak directed upwards and backwards at left, and two connected blotches at right, forming an irregular, yellowish-brown V-like mark just behind the head with its branches not in contact on the neck.</p>
            <p>Infralabials blackish-brown with lower parts of posterior infralabials irregularly marked with yellowish-cream; mental scale dark brown; chin and throat yellowish-cream with dark brown spots on anterior chin shields and a few other scattered spots on the back of the throat; lower sides of the neck yellowish-cream with four irregular dark brown streaks on each side.</p>
            <p> Venter overall dark due to numerous blackish-brown, connected blotches on a yellowish-cream background colour arranged as follows: venter yellowish-cream on the first seven ventrals, with a mesial row of dark blotches and tips of ventrals dark, then, on the next three or four ventrals, 3 or 4 rows of dark blotches, one or two mesially plus one on the tip of each ventral, separated by pale background colour, then 4 or 5 parallel, elongate blotches (not three as in  H. deschauenseei ), extending from the anterior margin of the ventral and not or barely reaching its posterior margin, these blotches becoming progressively wider and connected, reducing the background colour to short, pale irregular streaks separating the rows of dark blotches; after the first third of the body, the blotches are entirely connected, forming dark transversal blotches on much of each ventral, leaving a narrow, pale area along the posterior edge of each ventral. </p>
            <p>Tail blackish-brown below, with only the posterior edge of each subcaudal narrowly edged with beige brown.</p>
            <p>The coloration in life was rather similar, but more bright, at the exception of the dorsolateral spots which were orange and the apex of the chevron on the neck that was bright yellow.</p>
            <p>Description of the paratypes and variation.—A summary of morphological and meristic data of the paratypes is given in Table 1. Other important characters agree with features of the holotype and are mentioned below in the variation.</p>
            <p>General morphology. The maximal known total length is 602 mm long (SVL 409 mm, TaL 193 mm; specimen IEBR A.2018.2, female). Specimen KIZ 75I324 (male), with an incomplete tail, has a SVL = 595 mm, a value which would give a total length of ca. 860 mm.</p>
            <p>Body relatively slender in males, more robust but elongate in females. Head both moderately elongate and distinct from the neck, amounting (in adults above SVL 300 mm) for 3.7–4.3 % of SVL (x = 4.0 %); snout elongate, rather flat, subrectangular as seen from above, oblique seen in profile, amounting (in adults) for 27.6–30.4 % (x = 29.0 %) of HL in both sexes, or 2.1–2.7 (x = 2.4) times as long as diameter of eye; eye large, amounting for 1.4–1.7 (x = 1.5) times the distance eye–lip. Tail progressively tapering. Ratio TaL/TL: 0.297 –0.331, without sexual dimorphism, but this ratio is based on only three values as most specimens have truncated tails.</p>
            <p>Body scalation. DSR: 19–21-19-17, feebly or moderately keeled at midbody, more strongly keeled posteriorly, always smooth on 1 st DSR; dorsal scales immediately before vent and around the base of the tail strongly keeled.</p>
            <p>In our sample of 11 specimens, only one has 21 DSR behind neck while another has 20 DSR.</p>
            <p>The reduction 19 + 17 DSR, as DSR 4 + 5 + 4, appears at VEN 85–98 at left, at VEN 100–103 at right.</p>
            <p>VEN: 159–169 (plus 1–2 preventrals); SC: 115–129, all paired; cloacal plate divided.</p>
            <p>Length in number of subcaudals spanned, of 6 caudal scale rows (see Malnate &amp; Underwood 1988): 13–30 (in females); length in number of subcaudals spanned, of 4 caudal scale rows: 38–68. Ratio: length 4 rows/length 6 rows: 1.86–2.92 (in females).</p>
            <p>Dentition: 29–30 maxillary teeth in a continuous series, gradually enlarged with posterior two teeth slightly enlarged, without diastema.</p>
            <p>Head scalation. It is as described for the holotype and paratypes, with the following variation: internasals subtriangular and narrowing forward, 1.1–1.4 times as long as wide and 0.35–0.45 times as wide anteriorly than posteriorly; prefrontals subrectangular, broader than long; frontal hexagonal, large and elongate, 1.15–1.45 times as long as wide, 1.6–2.0 times longer than the prefrontals; parietals long and wide, in contact for a length 1.2–1.3 times as great as the frontal length; 1/1 pentagonal loreal, horizontally elongate, 0.6–0.7 times as high as long, in broad contact with the nasal; 2/2 preoculars in all examined specimens; 2 or 3 postoculars (2/ 2 in 7/ 11 specimens, 3/ 3 in 4/11), the upper one larger than the two lower ones; 9/9 supralabials in all examined specimens, 1 st– 2 nd SL (in 7/ 11 specimens) or 1 st– 3 rd SL (in 4/11) in contact with the nasal, 2 nd– 3 rd SL (in 6/22 occurrences), 2 nd– 4 th SL (12/22) or 3 rd– 4 th SL (4/22) in contact with the loreal, usually 5 th– 6 th SL entering orbit (14/22 occurrences), or 4 th– 6 th SL (7/22), rarely 4 th– 5 th SL (1/22); 7 th– 8 th SL largest ones, much enlarged; 1/1 anterior temporal in all examined specimens, followed by 1, 1/1+1 or 2 posterior temporals; usually 10 infralabials (in 17/22 occurrences), also 9 IL (in 4/22) or 11 IL (1/22), first pair in contact behind the mental, 1 st– 5 th IL in contact with anterior chin shields, 5 th and 6 th IL largest; posterior chin shields longer than anterior ones.</p>
            <p>Coloration and pattern. Dorsal surface and sides dark or very dark brown, even blackish-brown or deep black, more rarely dark chestnut-brown, nearly uniform or irregularly spotted by the presence of blackish-brown or black scales, darker than the background colour; in some specimens, many scales of the sides edged with blackish-brown or black and also somewhat paler in their middle; in all examined specimens, a series of 65 to 75 conspicuous, elongate dorsolateral blotches on 5 th and 6 th or 6 th and 7 th dorsal scale rows, yellow, pale yellowish-brown or pale reddish-brown in preservative, distinctly enlarged on the neck where they are about 2 to 2.5 DSR long and 1.5 to 2 scales high, then progressively smaller, often split into two parts on fore third of the body, irregularly split after midbody and reduced to a spot or a dash posteriorly but always visible; dorsolateral stripe usually absent but a faint, ochre-brown or reddish-brown stripe, may be present between the blotches along the posterior part of the body. The upper surface of tail is dark coloured as the body, either with a dorsolateral series of horizontally elongate pale spots in preservative or uniformly dark.</p>
            <p>Head as described for the holotype: upper surface, parietal region and background colour of supralabials dark brown or blackish-brown, with scattered beige or pale brown dots on internasals, prefrontals and cephalic region; a short, cream sagittal line just behind the suture between parietals present but more or less faint; rostral and sides of the snout slightly paler than upper head surface; a yellowish-brown or yellowish-ochre line on the outer edge of each parietal and onto upper temporals very thin or often absent; usually (rarely completely absent) a yellowish-brown or yellowish-ochre postocular streak, varying from barely visible or even reduced to a few dots, to quite broad and distinct, extending from upper postocular downwards to 9 th SL and the corner of the mouth; 1 st to 6 th supralabials more or less distinctly paler, i.e., dark brown or dark ochre-brown, near their anterior edge, also often in their central part or even the anterior half of the scale; 6 th SL usually more distinctly paler in its anterior half; 7 th SL yellowishcream or ochre-brown on a large part, either as a triangular pale area, wider at its base on its anterior half or on its central area with only the top and bottom of the scale blackish-brown; 8 th SL also yellowish-cream or ochre-brown on its lower anterior part, sometimes forming with the central area of 7 th SL a conspicuous, elongate and oblique marking, or when the paler areas of the 7 th and 8 th are disjunct, forming two pale, parallel triangles; posterior part of 9 th SL creamish-yellow or pale yellowish-brown; upper parts of 7 th, 8 th and anterior part or middle of 9 th SL, and anterior temporal uniformly black or very dark blackish-brown, forming a large, irregular, oblique postocular streak extending from behind the eye to the corner of the mouth and slightly beyond in some specimens; sides of the neck yellowish-cream, strongly spotted with blackish-brown, from which extends a yellowish-cream, more or less wide oblique streak directed upwards and backwards, forming an irregular, yellowish-brown V-like mark just behind the head with its branches not in contact on the neck.</p>
            <p>Venter overall dark as in the holotype, with numerous dark greyish-brown, dark brown or blackish-brown blotches on a yellowish-cream background colour; venter largely yellowish-cream anteriorly on the first 5 to 8 ventrals, with a mesial row of dark blotches or a solid streak and tips of ventrals dark, then, from 3 to 5 rows of parallel, elongate dark blotches, one to three mesially plus one on the tip of each ventral, separated by pale background colour, extending from the anterior margin of the ventral and not or barely reaching its posterior margin, these blotches becoming progressively wider and connected, reducing the background colour to short, pale irregular streaks separating the rows of dark blotches; after the first third to half of the body, depending on specimens, the blotches are entirely united and form dark, transversal blotches on much of each ventral, leaving a narrow, pale area along the posterior edge of each ventral.</p>
            <p>Tail blackish-brown below, with only the posterior edge of each subcaudal narrowly edged with beige brown or yellowish-ochre.</p>
            <p>In life, the coloration and pattern are quite similar to the conditions in preservative but more bright; the dorsal background coloration is chestnut-brown, dark brown, blackish-brown or even deep black, more or less iridescent; many scales of the sides are marked with yellow or yellowish-ochre; the dorsolateral blotches are conspicuous, bright yellow, orange, rusty red or bright reddish-ochre. Pale markings and vermiculations on the head are more conspicuous, more bright yellow, golden yellow or yellowish-ochre; when present, the large blotch on the 7 th supralabial is cream, yellowish-ochre or ochre-brown; the elongate blotch on the temporal region and on the hind part of the head is pale yellow, golden yellow, or yellowish-ochre, the branch obliquely directed upwards and backwards on the neck being often more orange colored; the background colour of the venter between dark blotches is cream or pale yellowish-grey.</p>
            <p>Sexual dimorphism. According to our sample of 11 specimens, it is only weakly expressed in a single character:</p>
            <p>Position of the reduction to 6 scale rows around the tail, expressed in the number of subcaudals: males: 14–21 vs. females 8–15.</p>
            <p>Our limited sample does not show any difference in the numbers of ventrals and subcaudals or in the ratio TaL/TL.</p>
            <p>Hemipenes.—The everted hemipenis (AMNH 148575) is short, single, cylindrical, reaching only the 7 th SC. It is entirely covered with spines, of which a few are largest at the base of the organ near the sulcus spermaticus; a few isolated large spines at the distal end of the organ.</p>
            <p> Distribution (Map 12).—  Hebius igneus spec. nov. occurs over the eastern part of the range of the informal group of the “dark-bellied”  Hebius species. </p>
            <p> People’s Republic of China. Yunnan Province. Baoshan Prefecture; Pu’er Prefecture; Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture.— Vietnam. North of the country: Ha Giang Province.  Vi Xuyen District . Lao Cai Province. Sa Pa, Van Ban. Tuyen Quang Province.  Na Hang District . Vinh Phuc Province.  Tam Dao National Park . – Thailand. Nan Province.  Pua District . </p>
            <p> Based on its currently known distribution,  Hebius igneus spec. nov. may obviously be expected in northern and north-western Laos. It may also be expected from other parts of north-eastern Thailand such as Loei Province. </p>
            <p> Biology.—This species inhabits regions covered with tropical evergreen forest and subtropical montane evergreen and deciduous forests between 300 and 1,900 m a.s.l. All specimens were collected in close association with rocky, fast-moving mountain streams in forested areas. This species is crepuscular and nocturnal. It feeds on frogs of the families  Megophryidae and  Ranidae . </p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/383AEC41FFA4FFD9FF6AF9E4FD8ECDEA	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	David, Patrick;Vogel, Gernot;Nguyen, Truong Quang;Orlov, Nikolai L.;Pauwels, Olivier S. G.;Teynié, Alexandre;Ziegler, Thomas	David, Patrick, Vogel, Gernot, Nguyen, Truong Quang, Orlov, Nikolai L., Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Teynié, Alexandre, Ziegler, Thomas (2021): A revision of the dark-bellied, stream-dwelling snakes of the genus Hebius (Reptilia: Squamata: Natricidae) with the description of a new species from China, Vietnam and Thailand. Zootaxa 4911 (1): 1-61, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4911.1.1
