Hebius clerki

Hebius clerki, also known commonly as the Yunnan keelback, is a species of snake of the family Colubridae. The species is native to Asia.

Hebius clerki
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Hebius
Species:	H. clerki
Binomial name
Hebius clerki (Wall, 1925)
Synonyms
Natrix clerki Wall, 1925 Natrix parallela — M.A. Smith, 1943 Hebius clerki — Guo et al., 2014 Amphiesma clerki — David et al., 2015

Geographic range

H. clerki is found in northeastern India, northern Myanmar, southwestern China (Yunnan), Nepal, and Bhutan.

Taxonomy

Many authors have considered H. clerki to be a synonym of H. parallelus (formerly Amphiesma parallelum), but a 2015 study revalidated H. clerki. It is possible that many records of H. parallelus actually represent H. clerki.

Habitat

H. clerki is a terrestrial snake inhabiting subtropical moist hill forests above 1,000 m (3,300 ft), often close to water.

Reproduction

The mode of reproduction of H. clerki is unknown.

Further reading

• David P, Agarwal I, Athreya R, Mathew R, Vogel G, Mistry VK (2015). "Revalidation of Natrix clerki Wall, 1925, an overlooked species in the genus Amphiesma Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 (Squamata: Natricidae)". Zootaxa 3919 (2): 375–395.
• Guo P, Zhu F, Liu Q, Zhang L, Huang YY, Pyron RA (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. (Hebius clerki, new combination).
• Wall F (2025). "Notes on Snakes collected in Burma in 1924". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 30 (4): 805–821. (Natrix clerki, new species, p. 809).