White lipped pythons
Taxonomy:
The genus Leiopython represents snakes that are widely distributed throughout Papua New Guinea, and several populations have been found on the surrounding islands including salawati, biak and massau.
Its also been documented that they have been found on the northern torres straight islands of Australia, but reports of them being found on mainland Australia have not been confirmed. it would be fair to say that possibly the species have been previosuly confused with Liasis fuscus (brown water python), hence these reports of sightings on mainland Australia.
For a long time it was the though there was only one species in this genus, however for the last 30 years, we have widely referred to two seperate species , geographically seperated by the central mountain range, known as the northern (golden) and southern (black) races
Whitelips have been classified under Liasis, and also had a brief stint under Morelia before Leiopython was resurrected.
A recent study has raised the suggestion of combining Leiopython and Bothrochilus into a single genus (Bothrochilus) after identifying them as sister species however this will require further study.
There are 5 known species of Leiopython (according to MOS and WS's paper):
L.albertisi
L.hoserae
L.huonensis
L.fredparkeri
L.bennetorum
L.biakensis
However I have only ever know L.albertisi (Northern) sp and L.hoserae (Southern) to be kept in captivity.
Description:
The most common form in captivity is the Northern whitelipped python. This species can be easily distinguished from the Southern race by its distinct golden sides and also from its mature size at around 6.5-7ft as opposed to the Southern that can reach lengths of 8-9ft.
Despite common belief, these snakes do not have huge teeth for their size and would certainly never rival that of various Morelia, and a bite even from a full size adult will not cause more than numerous pinpricks. These snakes are fairly vocal and are well
The genus Leiopython represents snakes that are widely distributed throughout Papua New Guinea, and several populations have been found on the surrounding islands including salawati, biak and massau.
Its also been documented that they have been found on the northern torres straight islands of Australia, but reports of them being found on mainland Australia have not been confirmed. it would be fair to say that possibly the species have been previosuly confused with Liasis fuscus (brown water python), hence these reports of sightings on mainland Australia.
For a long time it was the though there was only one species in this genus, however for the last 30 years, we have widely referred to two seperate species , geographically seperated by the central mountain range, known as the northern (golden) and southern (black) races
Whitelips have been classified under Liasis, and also had a brief stint under Morelia before Leiopython was resurrected.
A recent study has raised the suggestion of combining Leiopython and Bothrochilus into a single genus (Bothrochilus) after identifying them as sister species however this will require further study.
There are 5 known species of Leiopython (according to MOS and WS's paper):
L.albertisi
L.hoserae
L.huonensis
L.fredparkeri
L.bennetorum
L.biakensis
However I have only ever know L.albertisi (Northern) sp and L.hoserae (Southern) to be kept in captivity.
Description:
The most common form in captivity is the Northern whitelipped python. This species can be easily distinguished from the Southern race by its distinct golden sides and also from its mature size at around 6.5-7ft as opposed to the Southern that can reach lengths of 8-9ft.
Despite common belief, these snakes do not have huge teeth for their size and would certainly never rival that of various Morelia, and a bite even from a full size adult will not cause more than numerous pinpricks. These snakes are fairly vocal and are well