Lycodon ruhstrati
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Lycodon ruhstrati, also known as Ruhstrat's wolf snake, the mountain wolf snake, or the Formosa wolf snake, is a species of non-venomous colubrid snake found in Taiwan, southern and eastern China, and northern Vietnam. The specific name, ruhstrati, was chosen to honor German-born Ernst Konrad A. Ruhstrat (died 1913), of the Imperial Chinese Customs Service, who collected the type specimens of this species in southern Taiwan.
Lycodon ruhstrati is a member of the genus Lycodon, a genus of snakes commonly known as wolf snakes. The genus belongs to the snake family Colubridae. Colubridae is the largest snake family, with member genera and species being found on every continent except Antarctica.
The genus Lycodon has at times been placed in the genus Oligodon, but this classification is under dispute. The species Lycodon multifasciatus was previously listed as a subspecies of L. ruhstrati, being classified as Lycodon ruhstrati multifasciatus in 1984. However, in 2008 it was classified as a separate species as Lycodon multifasciatus. The species Dinodon futsingensis, first described in 1928, was synonymised with Lycodon ruhstrati in 1929. However, in 2009 it was recognized... Wikipedia →
Recording0:12
China · 2026
© montifringilla · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taipei | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Formosa Wolf Snake sighting in Taipei on a given day, based on 38 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 20th 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.
February and June–November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Formosa Wolf Snake in Taipei on a given day, against under 5% in March–May and December–January, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Formosa Wolf Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
Only Taipei, in our data
Taipei is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Formosa Wolf Snake sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Formosa Wolf Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Taipei (38 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.
