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Morelia is a genus of large snakes in the Pythonidae family. They are found in Indonesia, New Guinea, and throughout Australia. Currently, 8 species are recognized.[3]
In general, these snakes are arboreal to semi-arboreal, spending much of their life in the forest canopy. Although there are exceptions, most attain adult lengths of 2–3 m (5–8 feet). They are the only known predators of frill-necked lizards.
Found from Indonesia in the Maluku Islands, east through New Guinea, including the Bismark Archipelago and in Australia.[1]
There are eight species recognised at ITIS.[3]
- M. amethistina (Schneider, 1801), Amethystine python, found in Indonesia (Maluku Islands, Timorlaut Islands, Banda, Kai Islands, Aru Islands, Misool, Selawati, most of Western New Guinea, many islands in Geelvink Bay), Papua New Guinea (including Umboi Island, Bismarck Archipelago, Trobriand Islands, the d'Entrecasteaux Islands to Rossel Island, Louisiade Archipelago), and Australia (on some islands in the Torres Strait, the northern Cape York Peninsula south including the Atherton Tableland and the eastern foothills of the Great Dividing Range).
- M. boeleni (Brongersma, 1953), Boelen's python, found in Indonesia (Western New Guinea in the Wissel Lakes region) and Papua New Guinea (the provinces of Eastern Highlands, Central and Morobe, and Goodenough Island).
- M. bredli (Gow, 1981), Bredl's python, found in Australia, in the mountains of southern Northern Territory.
- M. carinata (L.A. Smith, 1981), Rough-scaled python, found in Australia, northwestern Western Australia in the lower sections of the Mitchell and Hunter rivers, just inland from the coast.
- M. oenpelliensis (Gow, 1977), Oenpelli python, found in Australia, Northern Territory, in the sandstone outcrops of western Arnhem Land.
- M. spilota (Lacépède, 1804), Carpet or Diamond python, six subspecies found in 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 (Schlegel, 1872), Green tree python, found in 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) and Australia (Queensland along the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula).
- Morelia riversleighensis, an extinct species, from the Miocene of Australia, was at one time known as Montypythonoides riversleighensis, after the comedy team.[2]
The species is a "well characterised fossil taxon", related to the extant Morelia spilota and Morelia oenpelliensis.[4]
See also
- List of pythonid species and subspecies.
- Pythonidae by common name.
- Pythonidae by taxonomic synonyms.
References
- ^ a b 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).
- ^ a b 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., and 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.
- ^ a b Morelia (TSN 209585). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 10 September 2007.
- ^ Rawlings, Leslie H., Leslie H.; Daniel L. Rabosky, Stephan C. Donnellan & Mark N. Hutchinson.. "Python phylogenetics: Inference from morphology and mitochondrial DNA.". Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society. (93): pp. 603–619.. http://www.cnah.org/pdf_files/909.pdf.
External links
Media related to Morelia (genus) at Wikimedia Commons
Information related to Morelia from Wikispecies.- Morelia at the TIGR Reptile Database. Accessed 10 September 2007.
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