Aspidites

Taxobox
name = "Aspidites"

---

image_caption = Black-headed python, "A. melanocephalus"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
subphylum = Vertebrata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Squamata
subordo = Serpentes
familia = Pythonidae
genus = "Aspidites"
genus_authority = Peters, 1877
synonyms = * "Aspidiotes" - Krefft, 1864
* "Aspidiotus" - Peters, 1876
* "Aspidites" - Peters, 1877McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).]

:"Common names: (none).""Aspidites" is a genus of non-venomous pythons found in Australia. The name can be translated as "shield bearer" and pertains to their two symmetrically shaped head scales. Currently, 2 species are recognized.ITIS|ID=209582|taxon="Aspidites"|year=2007|date=9 September]

Description

These snakes lack the heat sensitive pits between the labial scales that most other python species have. The head is narrow and the eyes have round pupils.

Geographic range

Found in Australia except in the south of the country.

Behavior

Both species are nocturnal.Mehrtens JM. 1987. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.]

Reproduction

Oviparous. The females stay with their eggs until they hatch.

pecies

"*) Not including the nominate subspecies." ^T) Type species.

Taxonomy

Two new subspecies. "A. ramsayi panoptes", the western woma python, and "A. r. richardjonesii", the desert woma python, were described by Hoser (2001).NRDB species|genus=Aspidites|species=ramsayi|date=9 September|year=2007] 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. [http://biology.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/FWit/LittSerp.pdf PDF] at [http://biology.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/ Wolfgang Wüster] . Accessed 10 September 2007.]

References

External links

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