Aspidura trachyprocta
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
Aspidura trachyprocta, the common rough-sided snake, is a colubrid species endemic to Sri Lanka. A commonly encountered small burrowing snake from midhills to montane limits of central Sri Lanka. Localities recorded are Gammaduwa, Monaragala, Labukele, Nuwara Eliya, Harasbedda, Eskdale, Central Kandy, Pundaluoya, Longton Estate, Diyagama Estate, Nanu Oya, Sita Eliya, Ambewela, Pattipola, Hakgala, Horton Plains National Park, Namunukula, Kandy, Radella, Ramboda, and Diyatalawa at elevations of 750-2100m.
Head indistinct from neck, body is cylindrical. Dorsum range from blackish brown to light reddish brown, with lateral stripes and 2–3 rows of dark dorsal spots. Venter varying from being heavily blotched with black to light yellow with a red tint and just blotched on midline.
Midbody scale rows 15. Pre-oculars present. 2 Post-oculars contact with parietal. Ventrals 128–151. Subcaudals 11–26. Found in piles of humus, leaf litter and rotten timber, within agricultural lands. 4–12 eggs at a time, measuring 16 × 25mm.
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| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Horton Plains National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
More parks will be added in future updates.
No species of the same family or order lives in Horton Plains National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other reptiles.
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Common Rough-sided Snake sighting in Horton Plains National Park on a given day, based on 63 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.
October
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Common Rough-sided Snake in Horton Plains National Park on a given day, against about 20% in February, the lowest month. That is one of Horton Plains National Park's wettest months, with about 370 mm of rain against 80 mm in March.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Rough-sided Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 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 Common Rough-sided Snake sightings: about 40% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Rough-sided Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Horton Plains National Park (63 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.
