New Guinea amethyst python
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New Guinea amethyst python ( Simalia amethistina ), Sorong |
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| ( Schneider , 1801) |
The New Guinea amethyst python ( Simalia amethistina , syn .: Morelia amethistina ), also short amethyst python , belongs to the family of pythons (Pythonidae) and is placed in the genus of amethyst pythons ( Simalia ). The snake native to Indonesia , Papua New Guinea and the Australian state of Queensland ( Daintree National Park ) shows locally different color morphs . When the amethyst pythons were separated in 2000, the species was redefined. Initial molecular genetic analyzes corroborate the suspicion that the New Guinea amethyst python consists of at least two distinct species. Almost nothing is known about the biology of this python.
description
Build, length and genome
The New Guinea amethyst python is a slender, but still quite sturdy python. Its long tail can make up over 17% of the total length. The head is clearly set off from the neck and, in adult females, is clearly broadened. The eyes are on the sides of the head and are directed slightly forward. The rounded, semi-oval snout seen from above is longer in males than in females. The round nostrils sit at an angle between the top of the head and the side of the head. This large species has so far only been investigated on the basis of a few individuals, which means that no data are available on the average and maximum lengths of adults. A captive born individual of the Sorong population was already 4.72 meters in length after six years. The genome of the species consists of 36 diploid chromosomes (2n = 36).
Scaling
The rostral (snout shield), which is only moderately visible from above, has, like most other pythons, two deep labial pits . The nostrils are each positioned in the upper rear part of the large nasal (nasal shield). A clearly recognizable seam runs from the nostril to the rear edge of the shield. Towards the middle of the head, the nasals are separated by a pair of internasals (intermediate nasal shields ). From the tip of the snout along the midline of the top of the head, the internalsals are followed by a large, long front pair of prefrontalia (forehead shields). The rear pair of prefrontalia lies on the side of the anterior prefrontalia and is either completely separated by them or unites at its rear. In the first variant, the anterior prefrontalia border directly on the large, simple frontal (frontal shield) behind it , or are separated from it by a smaller shield. Behind the frontal there are three large pairs of parietals ( parietal shields ), which can be partially or completely fused with one another. On the center line between these pairs of shields there can also be up to two small interparietals . Over the eyes is ever a large triangular Supraoculare (via eye shield). Preocularia (fore eye shields) exist two to three, postocularia (posterior eye shields) three to five. Subocularia (under-eye shields) are absent in this species. On the side of the head between the eye and nostril there are lorealia (rein shields) arranged in one to three rows . Of usually 12 supralabials (shields of the upper lip), the foremost four have deep labial pits on their rear edge, the size of the labial pits decreasing towards the angle of the mouth. Supralabials number 6 and 7 also touch the lower edge of the eye. Infralabialia (lower lip shields ) are 18 to 23, of which the foremost two are weakly recognizable and from behind the eye six to eight, sometimes more, have deep labial pits. The chin pit consists of shield-less skin, rarely also a few small shields.
The number of ventralia (abdominal shields) varies between 320 and 346, the number of dorsal rows of scales in the middle of the body between 41 and 57. From the cloaca to the tip of the tail there are 99 to 106 mostly paired subcaudalia (underside shields of the tail). The anal (anal shield) is undivided.
coloring
New Guinea amethyst pythons show very striking site-specific differences in color and pattern, which are also accompanied by genetic differences. So far, two distinctly different color forms could be distinguished geographically:
- Populations in Northeast New Guinea (Northern Irian Jaya and Sorong Peninsula ) are medium to pale brown and show a dark pattern that increasingly fades on the back third of the body. It consists of transverse ligaments along the spine, which can also form X-shaped figures, as well as two longitudinal ligaments on each of the flanks. In certain animals this body pattern is only slightly pronounced or completely absent. In all of these animals, however, a black, well-defined band runs over the back of the head and the neck. The former is connected to the corners of the mouth on both sides. Of the lightened lip shields, the front ones are clearly outlined in dark. The tongue is dark blue to black.
- Populations on Southeast New Guinea (South Irian Jaya) and the smaller islands of Aru , Kai , Biak and New Britain show a medium to dark brown basic color. They come in patterned or unpatterned form; There are no intermediate forms. Patterned animals have a clearly visible light pattern, especially on the back half of their body. Both patterned and unpatterned animals lack the black neck bands. The lightened lip shields can be framed by a thin dark line. The tongue is blue and has pink tips.
In eastern New Guinea ( Papua New Guinea ), east of the river arms of the Sepik and Fly , no regional delimitations between northern and southern populations can be made out. It is believed that the two color forms of West New Guinea described above are separate species and occur sympatricly on East New Guinea as well as on the Bismarck Archipelago .
Another different color form exists in New Ireland . Unpatterned animals with brown-gray-pink body color and deviating genetics are known from this island.
All New Guinea amethyst pythons have golden eyes, a dark band extending from the back of the eyes above the upper lip to the corner of the mouth, and a white-gray colored belly.
distribution and habitat
The species inhabits the Bismarck Archipelago , New Guinea, the islands of Aru, Kai, Trobriand , Murray , Biak , Yapen , Normanby , Rossel , Daru , Bobo and the islands of Misool and Salawati on the Torres Strait .
In New Guinea, these pythons inhabit a variety of different habitats, from the savannah to the rainforest. On Mount Rawlinson on the Huon Peninsula they reach altitudes of up to 1585 meters above sea level and on Irian Jaya even up to 1800 meters.
behavior
The way of life of this python is still largely unexplored. The diet includes various rodents and birds. Monitor lizards are also said to be eaten occasionally. The ophiophage Papuan python is one of the natural enemies of the New Guinea amethyst python .
Systematics
The amethyst python was first described by Schneider in 1801 under the scientific name Morelia amethistina . In 1933, Stull assigned subspecies status to the Australian population as Morelia amethistina kinghorni . In 2000, Harvey et al. taking into account morphological, biogeographical and molecular genetic aspects, five distinct species: Morelia amethistina , Morelia kinghorni , Morelia nauta , Morelia clastolepis and Morelia tracyae . All of the amethyst pythons described so far inhabit spatially separated habitats ( allopatry ). It is assumed, however, that further species can be differentiated among the species described so far, some of which even inhabit the same areas ( sympatry ). This is particularly suspected in New Guinea and New Ireland .
It is believed that an ancient form of the amethyst python once lived on the emerging New Guinea. Millions of years ago, in a first phase, the islands of Halmahera and New Ireland separated from New Guinea by deep straits, which completely isolated the amethyst python populations there. During later ice ages , land bridges formed between New Guinea and neighboring islands as well as the Australian mainland due to the low sea level. In a second phase, amethyst pythons colonized the D'Entrecasteaux Islands , the Louisiade archipelago and Aru . Seram , Ambon , Yapen , the coastal islands of the Torres Strait and Northern Australia. In a third phase, these pythons were able to use driftwood to get from Aru to the neighboring island of Kai , and those from Yapen to the neighboring island of Biak . The Tanimbar Islands also never had contact with other land masses, which means that precursors of this population must also have colonized the islands by water. Since New Guinea also changed significantly geotectonically, the original form of the amethyst python could still differentiate itself locally.
These pythons are most closely related to the Boelen python ( Morelia boeleni ). The characteristic commonality of amethyst and Boelen pythons is the presence of at least two pairs of large apex shields. In 1984, Wells & Wellington proposed separating amethyst pythons from diamond pythons ( Morelia ) as an independent genus called Australiasis .
The genus name Australiasis is invalid, however, because the genus was described in a journal that does not carry out a peer review process. At the beginning of 2014, the generic name Simalia (Gray, 1849) was therefore introduced for a new genus composed of the Boelen python, the Oenpelli python and the amethyst pythons.
According to Harvey et al. (2000) and Reynolds et al. (2014) as follows:
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In terms of molecular genetics, the amethyst pythons from Northwest New Guinea differ significantly from the other New Guinea amethyst pythons and also from other amethyst python species. It seems to be a separate evolutionary line. Exceptions, however, are three animals examined near the northwestern coast of New Guinea on the island of Biak . These individuals did not wear the otherwise typical neck straps and were genetically much more closely related to the population in Southwest New Guinea. Because the study was only carried out with a small amount of data and it is unclear how such a colonization of Biak came about, Harvey et al. 2000 apart from a further split of Simalia amethistina . However, their molecular genetic results so far suggest that Simalia amethistina is not a polyphyletic species, but several species.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l M. B. Harvey, DG Barker, LK Ammerman, PT Chippindale: Systematics of Pythons of the Morelia amethistina Complex (Serpentes: Boidae) with the Description of three new Species . Herpetological Monographs 14, 2000, pp. 139-185.
- ↑ GA Mengden, AD Stork: Chromosomal evolution in Serpentes: a comparison of G and C chromosome banding patterns of some colubrid and boid genera . Chromosoma 79, 1980, pp. 53-64. Quotation in MB Harvey, DG Barker, LK Ammerman, PT Chippindale: Systematics of Pythons of the Morelia amethistina Complex (Serpentes: Boidae) with the Description of three new Species . Herpetological Monographs 14, 2000, p. 156.
- ^ A b c d e S. B. McDowell: A catalog of the snakes of New Guinea an the Solomons, with special reference to those in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. Part II. Anilioidea and Pythoninae. Journal of Herpetology 9, 1975, pp. 1-79. (Based on the localities described, species-specific data were taken as far as possible that apply to today's New Guinea amethyst python).
- ^ A b M. O'Shea: A guide to the snakes of Papua New Guinea. Craft Print Pte Ltd., Singapore 1996, ISBN 9980-916-96-6 , pp. 76-77.
- ^ SB McDowell: Results of the Archibold Expeditions. No. 112. The Snakes of the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea . American Museum Novitates 2775, 1984, pp. 1-28. Quotation in MB Harvey, DG Barker, LK Ammerman, PT Chippindale: Systematics of Pythons of the Morelia amethistina Complex (Serpentes: Boidae) with the Description of three new Species . Herpetological Monographs 14, 2000, p. 156.
- ^ RW Wells, CR Wellington: A classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia . Australian Journal of Herpetology, Supplementary Series, Issue 1, 1984 pp. 1–61, full text ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hinrich Kaiser, Brian I. Crother, Christopher MR Kelly, Luca Luiselli, Mark O´Shea, Hidetoshi Ota, Paulo Passos, Wulf D. Schleip, Wolfgang Wüster: Best Practices: In the 21st Century, Taxonomic Decisions in Herpetology are Acceptable Only When Supported by a Body of Evidence and Published via Peer Review. In: Herpetological Review, 2013, 44 (1), 8–23 .. 44, 2013, pp. 8–23.
- ^ R. Graham Reynolds, Matthew L. Niemiller, Liam J. Revell: Toward a Tree-of-Life for the boas and pythons: Multilocus species-level phylogeny with unprecedented taxon sampling. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 71, February 2014, Pages 201-213, doi: 10.1016 / j.ympev.2013.11.011
literature
- MB Harvey, DG Barker, LK Ammerman, PT Chippindale: Systematics of Pythons of the Morelia amethistina Complex (Serpentes: Boidae) with the Description of three new Species . Herpetological Monographs 14, 2000, pp. 139-185.
- SB McDowell: A catalog of the snakes of New Guinea an the Solomons, with special reference to those in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. Part II. Anilioidea and Pythoninae . Journal of Herpetology 9, 1975, pp. 1-79.
Web links
- Simalia amethistina in The Reptile Database
- Morelia amethistina inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Auliya, M., 2009. Retrieved January 31, 2014.