''Aspidites'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
python
Python may refer to:
Snakes
* Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia
** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia
* Python (mythology), a mythical serpent
Computing
* Python (pro ...
s
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. The name can be translated as "shield bearer" and pertains to the symmetrically shaped head scales. Currently, two
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
are recognized.
Description
These snakes lack the heat-sensitive pits between the
labial scales
The labial scales are the scales of snakes and other scaled reptiles that border the mouth opening. These do not include the median scales on the upper and lower jawsWright AH, Wright AA. 1957. Handbook of Snakes. Comstock Publishing Associates (7 ...
that most other python species have.
The head is slightly wider than the neck, and the eyes are small, with a vertically elliptic pupils.
Distribution and habitat
They are found in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
except in the south of the country.
Behavior
Both species are
nocturnal
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...
,
[Mehrtens JM. 1987. ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. .] and
terrestrial
Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth.
Terrestrial may also refer to:
* Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...
.
[ Goin CJ, Goin OB, Zug GR. 1978. ''Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition''. W.H. Freeman. San Francisco. xi + 378 pp. . (''Aspidites'', p. 319.)]
Reproduction
Oviparous
Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...
, the females stay with their eggs until they hatch.
Species
T)
Type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
.
Taxonomy
Two new subspecies, ''A. ramsayi panoptes'', the western woma python, and ''A. r. richardjonesii'', the desert woma python, were described by Hoser (2001).
However, these descriptions are questionable, as they do not include proper diagnoses and seem to be based only on distribution.
[ Wüster W, Bush B, Keogh JS, O'Shea M, Shine R. 2001. Taxonomic contributions in the "amateur" literature: comments on recent descriptions of new genera and species by Raymond Hoser. Litteratura Serpentium 21: 67-91]
PDF
a
Wolfgang Wüster
. Accessed 10 September 2007.
References
Further reading
*
Krefft G. 1864. Description of ''Aspidiotes melanocephalus'', a New Snake from Port Denison, N.E. Australia. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1864: 20–22. (''"Aspidiotes, nov. gen."'', p. 20.)
*
Peters W. 1877. ''Über die von S.M.S. Gazelle mitgebrachten Amphibien''. Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1876: 528–535, 914. (''Aspidiotus melanocephalus'', p. 533; and ''Aspidites'', p. 914.)
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1568114
Pythonidae
Snake genera
Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters
Snakes of Australia