Erythrolamprus melanotus
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Shaw's dark ground snake (Erythrolamprus melanotus), also known commonly as Shaw's black-backed snake, and in Spanish as candelilla, guarda caminos, and reinita cazadora, is a species of snake in the subfamily Dipsadinae of the family Colubridae. The species is native to northern South America.
The English common names for Erythrolamprus melanotus refer to English biologist George Kearsley Shaw, who described and named this snake as a species new to science in 1802. Erythrolamprus melanotus belongs to the genus Erythrolamprus, which contains over 50 species. The genus Erythrolamprus belongs to the subfamily Dipsadinae, which is sometimes referred to as the family Dipsadidae. The relationships of Erythrolamprus species located in northern South America (Venezuela) can be shown in the cladogram below, based on molecular DNA analysis:
Erythrolamprus melanotus grows to a total length (tail included) of 43 cm (17 in). Dorsally, it has a light yellow or pinkish color, with a wide, dark vertebral stripe, which is bordered on each side by a thin whitish stripe, followed by a thin dark stripe. The top of the head is olive, and there is a... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Main Ridge Forest Reserve | 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago | |
| 2 | Tayrona National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-backed Snake sighting in Tayrona National Natural Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 19th most-seen of the 26 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.
September
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Black-backed Snake in Tayrona National Natural Park on a given day, against under 5% in February, June–July and October–December, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-backed Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 2
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Black-backed Snake sightings, Tayrona National Natural Park ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Main Ridge Forest Reserve (Trinidad and Tobago, about 30%).
Same family: Colubridae
The closest relatives of the Black-backed Snake that you can see in Tayrona National Natural Park (family Colubridae, Colubrid Snakes) are Venezuelan Cat-eyed Snake (about 40%), Cloudy Snail-eating Snake (about 30%) and Blunthead Tree Snake (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-backed Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Tayrona National Natural Park (11 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.
