Three-banded Wolf Snake

Lycodon trifasciatus is a wolf snake described in 2026 from Sri Lanka, from an overlooked tri-banded lineage that had been confused with the Sri Lankan populations called Lycodon aulicus. It is endemic to Sri Lanka and known from specimens at places including Udadumbara and Anamaduwa. Adults reach a snout-vent length of 615 mm. The back is reddish or dark olive brown, rarely black, with three, occasionally four, white crossbands restricted to the front of the body, each 2 to 4 scales wide with 22 to 28 scales between bands (Amarasinghe and colleagues 2026, as summarised by Nova Taxa).

It has one preocular and two postocular scales, a nasal divided by the nostril, and a divided anal plate. Ventrals number 182 to 184 in males and 192 to 195 in females. Genetic analysis places it close to the Sri Lankan L. aulicus lineage and to L. flavicollis of India, although the exact relationships are uncertain. Nothing is yet known of its habits. No status is given for it in the Sri Lanka National Red List 2012 list checked, since it was described later.