Trachylepis homalocephala
Silhouette: David Orr · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Trachylepis homalocephala, commonly known as the red-sided skink, is a small, slender species of skink in the subfamily Mabuyinae. T. homalocephala is indigenous to Southern Africa, where it typically occurs in coastal thicket and leaf litter along the South African coast, from Cape Town eastwards along the coast as far as Mozambique. A few tiny isolated populations also occur in moist mountainous areas further inland.
This small, elegant skink has a shiny, brightly striped body. Males change colour in the breeding season, developing bright red stripes on their flanks. The adult female red-sided skink lays around six eggs in summer. T. homalocephala was first described in 1828 by Wiegmann (who named it Scincus homolocephalus), based on specimens at the Natural History Museum in Berlin that were collected in South Africa by Ludwig Krebs.
Red-sided skinks are popular in the pet trade. Boulenger GA (1887). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume III.... Scincidæ... London: Trustees of the British... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red-sided Skink sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 45 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 17th most-seen of the 35 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May to March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red-sided Skink in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in April, the lowest month.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-sided Skink sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Cape Town, in our data
Cape Town is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Red-sided Skink sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-sided Skink is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Cape Town (45 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.
