Chrysopelea pelias
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The twin-barred tree snake (Chrysopelea pelias) is a species of colubrid snake found in Southeast Asia. It is also called the banded flying snake. It can glide, as with all species of its genus Chrysopelea, by stretching the body into a flattened strip using its ribs. It is fully arboreal, mostly found in moist forests, and can cover a horizontal distance of about 100 metres in a glide from the top of a tree. It is an oviparous snake.
Chrysopelea pelias belongs to the genus Chrysopelea, which contains four other described species. Chrysopelea is one of five genera belonging to the vine snake subfamily Ahaetuliinae, of which Chrysopelea is most closely related to Dendrelaphis, as shown in the cladogram below:
It is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, and Myanmar. It was erroneously reported in India. Chrysopelea pelias has an overlapping range with the paradise tree snake (Chrysopelea paradisi) in Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo and Indonesia. However, Chrysopelea pelias is not nearly as common as the paradise tree snake.
Chrysopelea pelias begins gliding by jumping in an upward position that seems to be different from... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bako National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 2 | Danum Valley Conservation Area | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 3 | Gunung Leuser National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 4 | Kinabalu Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Singapore | 🇸🇬 Singapore |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Banded Flying Snake sighting in Singapore on a given day, based on 121 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 23rd most-seen of the 64 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Banded Flying Snake in Singapore on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 4 and 7 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Banded Flying Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Singapore, in our data
Singapore is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Banded Flying Snake sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Chrysopelea
The closest relatives of the Banded Flying Snake that you can see in Singapore (genus Chrysopelea, Flying Snakes) are Paradise Flying Snake (about 10%) and Golden Tree Snake (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Banded Flying Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Singapore (121 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.
