Common Dotted Garden Skink

Common Dotted Garden Skink

Riopa punctata

Silhouette: David Orr · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Bengaluru

In 3 days ~40% in a week ~60%

29 Verified sightings at Bengaluru
June Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Common Dotted Garden Skink

Riopa punctata, also known as the common dotted garden skink, common snake skink, punctate supple skink, or spotted supple skink is a species of skink found in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. Young skinks of this species have a distinctive red tail, but this colour is lost in adults. The red tail is replaced by small spots and these spots coalesce to form continuous lines as the individual ages. The dots are present on the head and extends to the snout.

Distance between the end of snout and the fore-limb about 2 to 2/3 of the distance between axilla and groin; the snout is obtuse; lower eyelid has an undivided semitransparent disc; supranasals entire and are in contact with one another behind the rostral; frontal longer than the frontoparietals and interparietal together; a pair of nuchals, rarely absent; an enlarged temporal scale borders the outer margin of the parietal; ear-opening about half as large as the eye-opening, with one or two minute lobules anteriorly; 7 supralabials. the fifth below the middle of the eye, longer than the adjacent labials body covered with smooth subequal scales, 24 or 20, rarely 28, round the body; 62 to 76... Wikipedia →

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability

More parks will be added in future updates.

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Tiruchirappalli 🇮🇳 India
~40%
2 Coimbatore 🇮🇳 India
~30%
3 Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~20%
4 Chennai 🇮🇳 India
~20%
5 Ahmedabad 🇮🇳 India
~10%
6 Bengaluru 🇮🇳 India
~10%
7 Hyderabad 🇮🇳 India
~10%
8 New Delhi 🇮🇳 India
~10%
9 Kochi 🇮🇳 India
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Common Dotted Garden Skink in Bengaluru?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Dotted Garden Skink sighting in Bengaluru on a given day, based on 29 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 13th most-seen of the 26 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Common Dotted Garden Skink in Bengaluru?

May–July and November

In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Common Dotted Garden Skink in Bengaluru on a given day, against under 5% in January, the lowest month.

What time of day is best to see a Common Dotted Garden Skink?

Between 11 am and 2 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Dotted Garden Skink sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Bengaluru the best place to see a Common Dotted Garden Skink?

6th of 9

Of the 9 cities where we can rate Common Dotted Garden Skink sightings, Bengaluru ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Tiruchirappalli (India, about 40%), Coimbatore (India, about 30%) and Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] (Sri Lanka, about 20%).

Which relatives of the Common Dotted Garden Skink live in Bengaluru?

Same family: Scincidae

The closest relatives of the Common Dotted Garden Skink that you can see in Bengaluru (family Scincidae, Skinks) are Keeled Indian Mabuya (about 20%) and Bronze Grass Skink (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Common Dotted Garden Skink sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Common Dotted Garden Skink is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Bengaluru (29 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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