Calotes nigrilabris
Silhouette: Vijay Karthick · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
Calotes nigrilabris, the black-cheek lizard, is an agamid species endemic to Sri Lanka. It can be distinguished easily from painted-lipped lizard by having black bar on mouth rather than white or orange bar.In Sinhalese language, it is known as "Kalu Kopul Katussa - කළු කොපුල් කටුස්සා"
A submontane and montane species, found at elevations of 1,000 m (3,300 ft) and above. This species is tolerably common at localities such as Nuwara Eliya, Pattipola, Ohiya, Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve, Horton Plains National Park, Peak Wilderness Sanctuary, Kandapola, Ragala, Labukele, Knuckles, Pidurutalagala, Kuda Oya, Labugolla
Head is one and a half times width. A row of spines above and at the back of tympanum. Adult male is with swollen cheeks. Gular sacs are not developed. Mid body scale rows are 42–50. Ventrals are larger than dorsals. Dorsum is green unpatterned or with black edged, cream transverse bars or eye-like spots. Head with black markings. Venter is pale green.
This species is largely arboreal, inhabiting tree trunks, hedges, and shrubs, where it hunts for insects and worms by day. In Horton Plains C. nigrilabris can be found residing... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Horton Plains National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Very likely
About 90% of wildlife watchers report a Black-cheek lizard sighting in Horton Plains National Park on a given day, based on 83 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, April and July–August
In those months about 90% of wildlife watchers report a Black-cheek lizard in Horton Plains National Park on a given day, against about 80% in March, May–June and October–January, the lowest months. September has too few records to rate.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-cheek lizard sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Horton Plains National Park, in our data
Horton Plains National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Black-cheek lizard sightings: about 90% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-cheek lizard is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Horton Plains National Park (83 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.
