Macroprotodon brevis
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The western false smooth snake or Iberian false smooth snake (Macroprotodon brevis) is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species feeds exclusively on vertebrates, mainly reptiles, and mostly long-bodied prey which are burrowers or live under rocks.
Some aspects of its morphology and feeding habits suggest that it is not nocturnal, but rather lives under rocks. M. brevis is found on the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. The natural habitats of M. brevis include evergreen temperate forests and Mediterranean-style scrubland. M. brevis is threatened by habitat loss, largely the result of agriculture, and faces some threat from the wild boar.
Günther A (1862). "On new Species of Snakes in the Collection of the British Museum". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Third Series 9: 52–59. (Coronella brevis, new species, p. 58). Wikipedia →
Recording0:05
Spain · 2022
© Rubén · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lisbon | 🇵🇹 Portugal |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Iberian False Smooth Snake sighting in Lisbon on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 20th most-seen of the 21 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Iberian False Smooth Snake in Lisbon on a given day, against under 5% in May–October and December–March, the lowest months. Those are among Lisbon's wettest months, with about 75 mm of rain a month against almost none in July.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Iberian False Smooth Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Lisbon, in our data
Lisbon is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Iberian False Smooth Snake sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Colubridae
The closest relatives of the Iberian False Smooth Snake that you can see in Lisbon (family Colubridae, Colubrid Snakes) are Horseshoe Whip Snake (about 10%), Viperine Snake (about 10%) and Ladder Snake (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Iberian False Smooth Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Lisbon (5 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.
