Craspedocephalus macrolepis
Silhouette: Vijay Karthick · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
Craspedocephalus macrolepis, commonly known as the large-scaled pit viper, is a venomous pitviper species endemic to the Southern Western Ghats of South India. No subspecies are currently recognized. It is found in the mountains of southern Western Ghats south of Palakkad Gap, in the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is a high-elevation specialist, not normally recorded anywhere below 1200 m asl. Precise records are from Nelliyampathy, Munnar, Anaimalai, Palni hills, Meghamalai, Periyar Tiger Reserve, Agasthyamalai and Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve. at elevations of 1200-2695 m asl. The type locality is listed as "Anamalai hills (Tamil Nadu State, southwestern India)".
Adults may attain a total length of 68 cm (27 in), which includes a tail 12 cm (4.7 in) long. Dorsally, C. macrolepis is bright green, with blackish skin between the scales in some places. There is a yellow or white stripe on each side of the body, which runs along the first dorsal scale row. The upper lips are pale green, and there may be a black streak behind the eye. Ventrally, it is pale greenish.
The dorsal scales, which are large, keeled, and overlapping, are... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eravikulam National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
More parks will be added in future updates.
No species of the same family or order lives in Eravikulam National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other reptiles.
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Large-scaled Pit Viper sighting in Eravikulam National Park on a given day, based on 81 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and October
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Large-scaled Pit Viper in Eravikulam National Park on a given day, against about 20% in February and March, the lowest months. Those are among Eravikulam National Park's wettest months, with about 360 mm of rain a month against 25 mm in February.
Between 5 and 8 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Large-scaled Pit Viper sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Eravikulam National Park, in our data
Eravikulam National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Large-scaled Pit Viper sightings: about 40% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Large-scaled Pit Viper is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Eravikulam National Park (81 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
