Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i found this guy on my farm last year. I took some quick pics and released it. I wish i had spent a bit more time with it and gotten some better pics as well as scale counts and measurements. I have kind of figured out what it is based on what i know it isn't but i cannot find any pics or info on the species so i am just putting it out there for you guys to tell me what it is. Thanks,
Don

Just a guess, but it looks like Amphiesma sauteri.

Definitely Amphiesma...........it looks almost exactly like the A. v. vibakari pictured in Goris and Maeda. Do you know what species are known to occur in the ROK?

Shane
-----
Lifelist

well, both of you say the same thing so i guess it is in fact A. vibakari. It is a listed species for Korea but I had never seen one previously and could not find any pics of one. The reason I sort of ruled that out (prior to you IDing it)is because of the common name (Asian keelback). It made me assume that it had keeled scales and although it may have had keeled scales, my recollection of it as well as the pics I took (bad pics) made me think the scales were smooth. I may be wrong about the scales or the common name may be misleading. I had considered Coluber spinalis as this is also a listed species and again i could not find any pics of it but again, I had nothing to base it on as I had no info on either species. That is why I posted here because I figured you guys would know. Thanks for IDing it for me. I would like to find another one and get some better pics. Can't wait till warm weather gets here. Thanks again,
Don

Don:
You certainly get to some very remarkable locales. Did the komodo dragons live up to their reputation? All the photos I've seen of them make me think they are indeed a sliver of an older world.

Regards
John

John, ya, dragons are very cool. I think that most herpers would get a kick out of a visit but to be very honest, I do not know if the long trip and high cost would be worth what most people get to experience there (a few hours of watching them at a safe distance). On the other hand, because we were filming them for TV and paid for the special permits required from the gov't, we got to spend 4 days there up close and personal (collecting saliva samples and such).

As far as the Korean species go, its like I am from NY but have never seen the statue of liberty. Don't figure huh. I was running all around catching tegu in Peru and spitting cobras in Indo and never took much notice (other than snapping a few pics) of the local herps. Thanks a lot to this forum however, I am now very much interested in Korean species and hope to spend some time in the future gathering some info on them.

As a side note, I am getting an indo order in soon and am getting my friend to include some G. oxycephala and E. radiata. Figure I will try to set a few up and see what i can do with them. He also has some Chrysopelea species and I have had them before but do not think i am going to mess with any lizard eaters right now.

Thanks, Don

Very cool indeed!

Glad to see some of the folks on the site here can swap info with you on korean herps. When spring comes you're sure to have some good photos.

And congrats on the oxycephala and radiata. Oxycephala is a very cool project. Arboreal and impressive. It should make a very nice display. Some of the guys on this site work with several of the Gonyosoma species. There a few tricks to breeding them (egg hatching even has some quirks).

Please post any photos you have of your shipment.

Best regards
John

If I can get my scanner to work, I'll email you the info I have on A.vibakari. No mention of keeled scales. I'm hoping to find that species this May when I visit Japan. The only Ampheisma I've found is pryeri, and I can't remember if it had keeled scales or not.....perhaps the "keelback" sometimes used as a common name is in fact misleading.

Shane
-----
Lifelist

Shane, Got it, thanks a lot. Good info. I do not have access to a lot of that stuff and appreciate the assistance. I will hopefully find another one and get some "quality" pics.

Thanks again,
Don

We get 3 Amphiesma sub species here 2 of them do have keeld scales. I'v found all three but one is species is super fast and I'v never been able to get my hands on them.
Here are some pics of Amphi sauteri and Amphi stoatum. The missing pics are Amphi miyajimae.

>>We get 3 Amphiesma sub species here 2 of them do have keeld scales. I'v found all three but one is species is super fast and I'v never been able to get my hands on them.
>>Here are some pics of Amphi sauteri and Amphi stoatum. The missing pics are Amphi miyajimae.
>>

Hey, Dino. Those are very cool photos.

I was going to say that some species might be keeled and some smooth-scaled myself.

Two of those species I'm not familiar with, but I've seen Amphiesma stolata a few times, once in person. That species looks more like a garter snake than any other Asian spp. I know of.

The A. sauteri looks kinda like a red-belled snake, Storeria occipitomaculata.

Thanks for posting...Terry

Looks a little like Dino's, Amphiesma sauteri. Do you have more than one spp. of Amphiesma?

Terry