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St. John's keelback

species of reptile

Specimen drawers, botanical folios and brass scientific instruments under study light
Science and natureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 19, 2026
Entity authorityQ3015008 ↗
Source-derived summary

St. John's keelback (Fowlea sanctijohannis) is a species of snake in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Asia.

Etymology

The specific name, sanctijohannis, is in honor of British naturalist Oliver Beauchamp Coventry St. John.

Geographic range

F. sanctijohannis is found in Bhutan, northern India (Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir), northern Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of F. sanctijohannis is freshwater wetlands, at altitudes of 960–2,200 m (3,150–7,220 ft).

Reproduction

F. sanctijohannis is oviparous.

References

Further reading

Boulenger GA (1890). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma.

Editorial summary

“St. John's keelback” enters the record as species of reptile. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what John's, keelback and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewUseful for establishing the present vocabulary of the subject while preserving a route back to the evidence on which that vocabulary rests. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1890—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around John's, keelback and species.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“St. John's keelback” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, John's, keelback and species provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3015008. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1890.

Critical limits

Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “St. John's keelback”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow St. John's keelback primary sources, St. John's keelback archive and John's research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “St. John's keelback”?
  2. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
  3. Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “St. John's keelback” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.