Morelia (snake)

Morelia is a genus of large snakes in the family Pythonidae found in Indonesia, New Guinea, and throughout Australia. Currently, up to eight species are recognized.[3]

Morelia
Morelia spilota
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Pythonidae
Subfamily: Pythoninae
Genus: Morelia
J. E. Gray, 1842
Synonyms
  • Morelia Gray, 1842
  • Simalia Gray, 1849
  • Chondropython Meyer, 1874
  • Aspidopython Meyer, 1874
  • Hypaspistes Ogilby, 1919
  • Australiasis Wells & Wellington, 1984
  • Nyctophylopython Wells & Wellington, 1984[1]
  • Montypythonoides M.J. Smith and Plane, 1985[2]

In general, these snakes are arboreal to semiarboreal, spending much of their lives in the forest canopy. Although exceptions occur, most attain adult lengths of 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft).

Geographic range

Species are found from Indonesia in the Maluku Islands, east through New Guinea, including the Bismarck Archipelago and in Australia.[1]

Species

Seven species are recognized:[4]

Species[3] IUCN Status[5] Taxon author[3] Subsp.*[3] Common name Geographic range[1]
M. azurea (Meyer, 1874) 3 Green tree python, southern green python Papua New Guinea (Biak, Numfor and Supiori in the Schouten Islands group of Cenderawasih Bay)
M. bredli

(Gow, 1981) 0 Bredl's python; Centralian python Australia, in the mountains of southern Northern Territory
M. carinata

(L.A. Smith, 1981) 0 Rough-scaled python Australia, northwestern Western Australia in the lower sections of the Mitchell and Hunter rivers, just inland from the coast
M. imbricata
(L.A. Smith, 1981) 0 Southern carpet python New Guinea, Australia (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia)
M. spilotaT

LC[6]
LR/nt[7]		 (Lacépède, 1804) 6 Carpet python; diamond python Indonesia (southern Western New Guinea in Merauke Regency), Papua New Guinea (southern Western Province, the Port Moresby area of Central Province and on Yule Island) and Australia (excluding much of the center and north west of the country)
M. viridis LC[8] (Schlegel, 1872) 1 Green tree python Indo/Papuan: Indonesia (Misool, Salawati, Aru Islands, Schouten Islands, most of Western New Guinea), Papua New Guinea (including nearby islands from sea level to 1,800 m elevation, Normanby Island and the d'Entrecasteaux Islands)

Australian: Queensland along the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula

M. riversleighensis† (Smith and Plane, 1985) 0 n/a Extinct, remains found in Queensland, Australia

*) Not including the nominate subspecies
T) Type species.[1]

Hybrids

References
  1. McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. Scanlon, J.D. (2001). "Montypythonoides revisited: the Miocene snake Morelia riversleighensis (Smith and Plane, 1985) and the question of pythonine origins". In Hand, S.J.; Laurie, J.R. (eds.). Riversleigh Symposium 1998: Proceedings of a Research Symposium on Fossils from Riversleigh and Murgon, Queensland, held at the University of New South Wales, December, 1998. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 25. pp. 1–35.
  3. "Morelia". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 10 September 2007.
  4. Morelia at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 1 January 2020.
  5. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species".
  6. Shine R.A. & Allison, A. (2010). "Morelia spilota". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2014.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link) CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  7. Australasian Reptile & Amphibian Specialist Group (1996). "Morelia spilota ssp. imbricata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 1996. Retrieved 28 March 2014.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  8. Auliya, M.; Shine R.A. & Allison, A. (2010). "Morelia viridis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T177524A7449431. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T177524A7449431.en. Retrieved 15 January 2018.

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