Amphiesma stolatum
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The buff striped keelback (Amphiesma stolatum) is a species of nonvenomous colubrid snake found across Asia. It is a typically non-aggressive snake that feeds on frogs and toads. It belongs to the subfamily Natricinae, and is closely related to water snakes and grass snakes. It resembles an Asian version of the American garter snake. It is quite a common snake but is rarely seen.
Based on morphological characters including hemipenial morphology, dentition, and external scalation, in 1960 the genus Natrix sensu lato was divided into several genera, revalidating the genus Amphiesma with the type species A. stolatum.
A small, slender snake, the buff striped keelback is generally olive-brown to gray in colour. The head and the body are of the same colour. The body of the buff striped keelback is short, and it has a long slender tail which is almost a quarter of its length. Two yellow stripes along the length and to the sides of the spine are the distinctive feature of this snake. These stripes are diffuse at the head and are especially bright on the second half of its body.
The keelback has irregular blackish crossbars on the body. Near the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Children's Park, Guindy | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Buff Striped Keelback sighting in Guangzhou on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 24th most-seen of the 28 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April to July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Buff Striped Keelback in Guangzhou on a given day, against under 5% in August to March, the lowest months. Those are among Guangzhou's wettest months, with about 240 mm of rain a month against 30 mm in December.
Between 4 and 7 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Buff Striped Keelback sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 11
Of the 11 cities where we can rate Buff Striped Keelback sightings, Guangzhou ranks 11th at under 5%. The best odds are in Kalyan-Dombivli (India, about 30%), Guwahati (India, about 30%) and Dehradun (India, about 30%).
Same family: Colubridae
The closest relatives of the Buff Striped Keelback that you can see in Guangzhou (family Colubridae, Colubrid Snakes) are Yellow-Spotted Keelback (about 20%), Taiwan Kukri Snake (about 10%) and Dhaman (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Buff Striped Keelback is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Guangzhou (7 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.
