Morelia (snake)
Genus of large snakes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Morelia is a genus of large snakes in the family Pythonidae. The genus is native to Australia, Indonesia, and New Guinea. As of 2024, up to eight species are recognized.[3]
| Morelia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Morelia spilota | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Pythonidae |
| Subfamily: | Pythoninae |
| Genus: | Morelia Gray, 1842 |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Snakes in the genus Morelia are generally arboreal to semiarboreal, spending much of their lives in the forest canopy. Although exceptions occur, most may attain an adult total length (including tail) of 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft).
Geographic range
Morelia species are found from Indonesia in the Maluku Islands, east through New Guinea, including the Bismarck Archipelago, and in Australia.[1]
Species
The following seven species are recognized as being valid.[4]
| Species[3] | IUCN Status[5] | Taxon author[3] | Subsp.*[3] | Common name | Geographic range[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. azurea | (Meyer, 1874) | 2 | Green tree python; northern green tree python | Papua New Guinea (Biak, Numfor and Supiori in the Schouten Islands group of Cenderawasih Bay) | |
| M. bredli
|
(Gow, 1981) | 0 | Bredl's python; Centralian python | Australia, in the mountains of the southern Northern Territory | |
| M. carinata
|
(L.A. Smith, 1981) | 0 | Rough-scaled python | Australia, northwestern Western Australia in the lower sections of the Mitchell and Hunter Rivers, just inland from the coast | |
M. imbricata
|
(L.A. Smith, 1981) | 0 | Southwestern carpet python | New Guinea, Australia (New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia) | |
| M. spilotaT
|
LC[6] NT[7] |
(Lacépède, 1804) | 5 | Carpet python; diamond python | Indonesia (southern Western New Guinea in Merauke Regency), Papua New Guinea (the southern Western Province, the Port Moresby area of Central Province and on Yule Island) and Australia (excluding much of the center and northwest of the country) |
M. viridis  |
LC[8] | (Schlegel, 1872) | 0 | Green tree python; southern green tree python | Indo/Papuan: Indonesia (Misool, Salawati, the Aru Islands, the 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)
Australian: Queensland along the eastern coast of the Cape York Peninsula |
| M. riversleighensis† | (M.J. Smith & Plane, 1985) | 0 | n/a | Extinct, remains found in Queensland, Australia | |
- ) Not including the nominate subspecies.
T) Type species.[1]
