Brachyurophis roperi
Silhouette: SeismicShrimp · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Brachyurophis roperi, also known as the northern shovel-nosed snake, is a species of mildly venomous burrowing snake that is endemic to Australia. The specific epithet roperi refers to the type locality of the Roper River Mission in the Northern Territory. It was formerly considered a subspecies of Brachyurophis semifasciatus.
The species grows to an average of about 37 centimetres or 15 inches in length. There are dark brown to black bands along the length of the orange to reddish-brown upper body. The belly is whitish. The species is oviparous with a clutch size of three. It feeds on reptile eggs.
The species' range extends from Broome in Western Australia, eastwards through the Kimberley region, the Top End of the Northern Territory as far south as Ti-Tree, to Camooweal in western Queensland. It occurs in sandy soils as well as in heavy soils and rocky ranges. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kakadu National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Shovel-nosed Snake sighting in Kakadu National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 48th most-seen of the 54 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May, July and September
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Shovel-nosed Snake in Kakadu National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June, August and October–April, the lowest months. Those are among Kakadu National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain a month against 350 mm in January.
Between 8 and 11 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Northern Shovel-nosed 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 Kakadu National Park, in our data
Kakadu National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Northern Shovel-nosed Snake sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Elapidae
The closest relatives of the Northern Shovel-nosed Snake that you can see in Kakadu National Park (family Elapidae, Elapid Snakes) are Mulga Snake (about 20%), Papuan Whipsnake (about 20%) and Rough-scaled Death Adder (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Northern Shovel-nosed Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Kakadu National Park (5 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.
