Aspidites | |
---|---|
Black-headed python, Aspidites melanocephalus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Serpentes |
Family: | Pythonidae |
Subfamily: | Pythoninae |
Genus: | Aspidites W. Peters, 1877 |
Synonyms | |
Aspidites is a genus of pythons endemic to Australia. The name can be translated as "shield bearer" and pertains to the symmetrically shaped head scales. Currently, two species are recognized. [2]
These snakes lack the heat-sensitive pits between the labial scales that most other python species have.[ citation needed ]
The head is slightly wider than the neck, and the eyes are small, with a vertically elliptic pupils. [3]
They are found in Australia except in the south of the country. [1]
Both species are nocturnal, [4] and terrestrial. [5]
Oviparous, the females stay with their eggs until they hatch.
Species [2] | Taxon author [2] | Common name [4] | Geographic range [1] |
---|---|---|---|
A. melanocephalusT | (Krefft, 1864) | Black-headed python | Australia in the northern half of the country, excluding the very arid regions. |
A. ramsayi | (Macleay, 1882) | Woma python | Australia in the west and center of the country: from Western Australia through southern Northern Territory and northern South Australia to southern Queensland and northwestern New South Wales. Its range may be discontinuous. |
T) Type species. [1]
Two new subspecies, A. ramsayi panoptes, the western woma python, and A. r. richardjonesii, the desert woma python, were described by Hoser (2001). [6] However, these descriptions are questionable, as they do not include proper diagnoses and seem to be based only on distribution. [6] [7]
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The woma python, also known commonly as Ramsay's python, the sand python, and simply the woma, is a species of snake in the family Pythonidae, endemic to Australia. Once common throughout Western Australia, it has become critically endangered in some regions.
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