Ventral scales usually distinct only quite anteriorly, further back in pairs and not larger than the adjoining scales; scales much imbricate, pointed.
It can be distinguished from other subspecies of M. lebetina by its higher scale counts — usually 170-175 ventrals, and 25 (sometimes 27) rows of dorsal scales at midbody — and relatively dark color pattern.
The diameter of eye one-fourth the length of the ocular shield, and the ventrals a little broader, twice as broad as the adjacent scales: ventrals 188-200; caudals 15-17.
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The scalation usually includes 21 rows of dorsal scales at midbody, all of which are keeled (although the keels on the first scale rows are faint), 146-157 ventral scales, and 39-54 subcaudal scales.
Preventral scales are snake scales positioned anterior to the ventral scales and are wider than they are long, but do not come into contact with the paraventral row of dorsal scales on either side of the body.
These bones may have been derived from the ventral scales found in animals like rhipidistians, labyrinthodonts, and Acanthostega, and may be related to ventral elements of turtle plastrons.