Hebius is a genus of snakes in the family Colubridae..
Geographic range The genus Hebius is endemic to Asia.Guo et al.
Taxonomy All of the member species of the genus Hebius were formerly placed in the genus Amphiesma, but in 2014 Guo et al. placed most species of Amphiesma in the genus Hebius. They placed other species in the genus Herpetoreas, leaving Amphiesma a monotypic taxon containing only the species Amphiesma stolatum.
Species The following 53 species are recognized as being valid. Hebius andreae (Ziegler & Quyet, 2006) – Andrea’s keelback Hebius annamensis Bourret, 1934 – Annam keelback Hebius arquus (David & G. Vogel, 2010) Hebius atemporalis (Bourret, 1934) – Tonkin keelback Hebius bitaeniatus (Wall, 1925) – Kutkai keelback Hebius boulengeri (Gressitt, 1937) – Tai-yong keelback, Boulenger’s keelback Hebius celebicus (W. Peters & Doria, 1878) – Sulawesi keelback Hebius chapaensis Bourret, 1934 – Vietnam water snake Hebius clerki (Wall, 1925) – Yunnan keelback Hebius concelarus (Malnate, 1963) Hebius craspedogaster (Boulenger, 1899) – Kuatun keelback Hebius deschauenseei (Taylor, 1934) – northern keelback, Deschauensee’s keelback Hebius flavifrons (Boulenger, 1887) – Sabah keelback Hebius frenatus (Dunn, 1923) – bridled keelback Hebius groundwateri (M.A. Smith, 1922) – Groundwater's keelback Hebius igneus David, G. Vogel, T.Q. Nguyen, Orlov, Pauwels, Teynié & Ziegler, 2021 Hebius inas (Laidlaw, 1901) – Malayan mountain keelback Hebius ishigakiensis (Malnate & Munsterman, 1960) – Yaeyama keelback Hebius johannis (Boulenger, 1908) – Johann's keelback Hebius kerinciensis (David & Das, 2003) Hebius khasiensis (Boulenger, 1890) – Khasi Hills keelback, Khasi keelback Hebius lacrima Purkayastha & David, 2019 – crying keelback Hebius leucomystax (David, Bain, T.Q. Nguyen, Orlov, G. Vogel, Thanh & Ziegler, 2007) – white-lipped keelback Hebius malnatei Li et al., 2026 Hebius maximus Malnate, 1962 – western China keelback Hebius metusia (Inger, E. Zhao, Shaffer & G. Wu, 1990) – Wa Shan keelback Hebius miyajimae (Maki, 1931) – Maki's keelback Hebius modestus (Günther, 1875) – modest keelback Hebius nigriventer (Wall, 1925) Hebius octolineatus (Boulenger, 1904) – eight-lined keelback Hebius optatus (Hu & E. Zhao, 1966) – Mount Omei keelback Hebius parallelus (Boulenger, 1890) – Yunnan keelback Hebius petersii (Boulenger, 1893) – Peters's keelback Hebius popei (Schmidt, 1925) – Pope's keelback Hebius pryeri (Boulenger, 1887) – Pryer's keelback Hebius sanguineus (Smedley, 1931) – Cameron Highlands keelback Hebius sangzhiensis Zhou et al., 2019 – Sangzhi keelback Hebius sarasinorum (Boulenger, 1896) – Sarasin’s keelback Hebius sarawacensis (Günther, 1872) – Sarawak keelback Hebius sauteri (Boulenger, 1909) – Kosempo keelback Hebius septemlineatus (Schmidt, 1925) – Tengchong keelback Hebius taronensis (M.A. Smith, 1940) – Kachin keelback Hebius terrakarenorum Hauser, Smits, & David, 2022 Hebius venningi (Wall, 1910) – Chin Hills keelback Hebius vibakari (H. Boie, 1826) – Japanese keelback Hebius viperinus (Schenkel, 1901) Hebius weixiensis Hou, Yuan, Wei, G. Zhao, G. Liu, Y. Wu, Shen, Chen, Guo & Che, 2021 – Weixi keelback Hebius yanbianensis Q. Liu, Zhong, Wang, Y. Liu & Guo, 2018) – Yanbian keelback Hebius youjiangensis Yang, Xu, Wu, Gong, Huang & Huang, 2023 Hebius citrinoventer Xu, Yang, Ouyang, Huang & Peng, 2024 – Yingjiang keelback Hebius jingdongensis Ma, Shi, Ayi & Jiang, 2023 – Jingdong keelback Hebius gilhodesi Bohra, Nguyen, Vogel, Lalremsanga, Biakzuala, Das, Warjri, Thongni, Poyarkov & Purkayastha, 2025 – Bhamo keelback Hebius shantianfangi Liu, Wang, Hou, Zhang, Wang, Zong, Zhou, Rao, David & Vogel, 2025 – Mengla keelback Hebius ngoclinhensis Le, Phan, T. L. Nguyen, Murphy, Lam, S. N. Nguyen & Che, 2026 – Ngoc Linh keelback Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Hebius.
References
Further reading Guo, Peng; Zhu, Fei; Liu, Qin; Zhang, Liang; Li, Jian X.; Huang, Yu Y.; Pyron, R. Alexander (2014). "A taxonomic revision of the Asian keelback snakes, genus Amphiesma (Serpentes: Colubridae: Natricinae), with description of a new species". Zootaxa 3873 (4): 425–440. Thompson JC (1913). "Contributions to the Anatomy of the Ophidia". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1913: 414–425. (Hebius, new genus, p. 424).