Modest Keelback

Adults may attain 60 cm (2 feet) in overall length; tail length 18 cm (7 inches). Dorsum: Dark grayish-brown to olive brown, scattered with black spots or blotches. A dorsolateral series of ochre-yellow, orange-brown, or reddish-brown stripes (often reduced to elongate blotches) extends from the nape to the tail base on the 4th–7th dorsal scale rows. Postocular streak is absent. Ventrally it may be yellowish with a , or yellowish in the middle and blackish on the sides, or almost entirely blackish. Venter: Pale ochre-brown centrally, broadly edged with dark brown or blackish on the outer quarter of ventrals. Series of blackish spots on each side of the ventrals. Head: Labial sutures black; short, broad, horizontal pale streaks on the neck sides before the dorsolateral stripe along with a streak on the nape, behind the parietal scales.

Scalation. Dorsal scales: 19-19-17 rows, weakly keeled at midbody and posteriorly; smooth on first dorsal scale row Ventrals: 143–163 in males, 154–168 in females Anal: Divided Subcaudals: 104–122, divided Supralabials: 8–9; 3rd–5th entering the eye Infralabials: 8–9 Anterior temporals: 1 or rarely 2; rectangular and elongate Preoculars: 1 (occasionally absent) Maxillary teeth: 27–30, with the last two moderately enlarged

Confirmed range:

India: Meghalaya (Khasi Hills), Arunachal Pradesh China:Yunnan Province Myanmar: Kachin, Shan States Disputed records: Historical reports from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Guangdong/Guizhou (China) are questionable or misidentifications. It possibly occurs in Bhutan. The type locality is Khasi Hills, India.