Pythonodipsas carinata
Silhouette: SeismicShrimp · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The western keeled snake (Pythonodipsas carinata) is a species of snake in the family Pseudaspididae. It is native to western Namibia, southwestern Angola, and southwestern Zambia, and is the only member of the genus Pythonodipsas.
P. carinata is most closely related to Pseudaspis cana. Together these two monotypic genera make up the subfamily Pseudaspidinae of the family Lamprophiidae. Pythonodipsas closely resembles the colubrine genus Spalerosophis, although the two are not closely related.
P. carinata is unusual in possessing greatly fragmented head shields, a peculiar maxillary dentition (3rd to 6th largest, posterior-most tooth large and grooved), a reduced number of palatine teeth (including a greatly enlarged "fang"), and hypapophyses developed throughout the vertebral column. It was once thought to be a possible evolutionary intermediate between vipers and non-venomous colubroids, but it is now known not to be closely related to vipers.
P. carinata are nocturnal. P. carinata eat vertebrates, with lizards comprising 67% of the diet, rodents 25%, birds 4%, and unidentified vertebrate bones 4%. Among lizard prey, geckos... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
No species of the same family or order lives in Namib-Naukluft National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other reptiles.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Western Keeled Snake sighting in Namib-Naukluft National Park on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 25th most-seen of the 39 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Western Keeled Snake in Namib-Naukluft National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, March–May and October–November, the lowest months.
Between 4 and 7 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Western Keeled Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Namib-Naukluft National Park, in our data
Namib-Naukluft National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Western Keeled Snake sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Western Keeled Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Namib-Naukluft National Park (13 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.
