Dendrelaphis formosus
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Dendrelaphis formosus, commonly known as either the elegant bronzeback or beautiful bronzeback tree snake, is a snake species in the family Colubridae from Southeast Asia. Dendrelaphis formosus belongs to the genus Dendrelaphis, which contains 48 other described species.
Dendrelaphis is one of five genera belonging to the vine snake subfamily Ahaetuliinae, of which Dendrelaphis is most closely related to Chrysopelea, as shown in the cladogram below: The beautiful bronzeback tree snake is native to southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia to the islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java. It inhabits lowland forests up to elevations of 600 m (2,000 ft). The snake is diurnal and fully arboreal, and has oviparous reproduction. It mainly feeds on lizards, but occasionally also frogs. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taman Negara National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 2 | Khao Sok National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 3 | Bako National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 4 | Kinabalu Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Danum Valley Conservation Area | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report an Elegant Bronzeback sighting in Kinabalu Park on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 35th most-seen of the 69 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–February and September
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report an Elegant Bronzeback in Kinabalu Park on a given day, against under 5% in July and December, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Elegant Bronzeback sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Elegant Bronzeback sightings, Kinabalu Park ranks 4th at about 20%. The best odds are in Taman Negara National Park (Malaysia, about 30%), Khao Sok National Park (Thailand, about 30%) and Bako National Park (Malaysia, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Elegant Bronzeback is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Kinabalu Park (16 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.
