Timor Python

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Timor Python
Adult Lesser Sundas Python (Python timoriensis) .jpg

Timorpython ( Malayopython timoriensis )

Systematics
without rank: Toxicofera
Subordination : Snakes (serpentes)
Superfamily : Python-like (Pythonoidea)
Family : Pythons (Pythonidae)
Genre : Malayopython
Type : Timor Python
Scientific name
Malayopython timoriensis
( Peters , 1876)

The Timorpython ( Malayopython timoriensis ) is a species of snake from the python family .

features

Head side

Due to the small amount of data, there is still no well-founded information on the average and maximum length of the species. Allegedly, isolated individuals are said to have reached a total length of around three meters. The elongated-oval head is clearly set off from the neck and has clear warmth pits on the upper lip shields. The body is slender and yellow to red-brown with dark spots, and a fine median line runs on the top of the head. The spots merge into a reticulated pattern that becomes more indistinct or completely faded towards the tail. The ventral side is uniformly yellow.

The frontal shield and the supraocular shield are noticeably large. The first four of the total of 12 supralabial shields have heat pits, as do five of the 17 infralabial shields and the snout shield . The trunk has 60 rows of smooth scales in the middle of the trunk, 228 ventral shields and 22 sub-caudal shields , the last nine of which are undivided, and an undivided anal shield .

Distribution and way of life

The Timorpython inhabits the islands of Flores , Lomblen , Solor , Pantar , Adonara and possibly Lombok in the Lesser Sunda Islands . An occurrence on Timor seems very unlikely, contrary to its name, because the leather and live animal trade, which has been operating extensively on Timor over the past decades, has not been able to catch a single one of these lucrative pythons. It is assumed that the individual for the first description was therefore only exported via Timor and originally came from another island. The Timorpython inhabits open forests and grasslands, where it feeds on small mammals and birds . The species is nocturnal.

Systematics

In the past, the Timorpython was placed under the scientific name Python timoriensis in the genus of the real pythons ( Python ). The monophyly of the genus Python has long been controversial. Among other things, Walls pointed out that at least the reticulated python is much closer to the pythons of the genus Morelia than the other species of the genus Python in a number of morphological features . A recent molecular genetic investigation has confirmed the paraphyly of the genus Python . Accordingly, the closest relative of the Timor python is the reticulated python . These two species form the sister taxon of all pythons in Australia and Papua New Guinea and are therefore more closely related to them than to the other species of the genus Python . On the basis of these results, reticulated python and timor python were first transferred to the genus Broghammerus , which had already been proposed by Hoser , which is, however, invalid, since the genus was described in a journal that does not carry out a peer review process. At the beginning of 2014 the generic name Malayo python was therefore introduced for the reticulated python and the Timor python. Since then the Timorpython has been given the scientific name Malayopython timoriensis .

With the Timorpython no further subspecies are distinguished.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b JG Walls 1998: The Living Pythons. TFH Publications, 1998: pp. 166, 181-185
  2. ↑ DG Barker, TM Barker: The Lesser Sundas Python (Python timoriensis): Taxonomic History, Distribution, Husbandry, and Captive Reproduction . Advances in Herpetoculture 1996, pp. 103-108.
  3. ^ JM Mehrtens: Living Snakes of the World in Color . Sterling Publishers. New York 1987, 480 pp. ISBN 0-8069-6460-X .
  4. ↑ LH Rawlings, DL Rabosky, SC Donnellan and MN Hutchinson: Python phylogenetics: inference from morphology and mitochondrial DNA . Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 93, 2008: pp. 603-619
  5. ↑ RT Hoser: A reclassification of the Pythoninae including the descriptions new genera, two new species and nine new subspecies. Continued. Crocodilian - Journal of the Victorian Association of Amateur Herpetologists 4, 2004: pp. 21-39
  6. ^ 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
  7. ↑ a b Malayopython timoriensis in The Reptile Database

Web links

Commons : Timorpython ( Malayopython timoriensis )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files