Taxonomy
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Taxonomy
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description Genus Leiopython Taxonomic history L. albertisii Mussau Is. Population Emirau Is. Population L. hoserae L. bennettorum L. fredparkeri L. huonensis L. biakensis |
Emirau Island Population
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| Although specimens from Emirau Island, the proximate island of Mussau Island in the St. Matthias group in the Bismarck Archipelago, were collected much earlier than the Mussau Island specimens, these specimens have been overlooked and were first described by Schleip (2008). Three specimens were collected in 1944 by the ornithologist C. G. Sibley, stored at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, California (MVZ 40847–40849). Specimens of this population are similar to L. albertisii in general appearance. Scale counts are 13/13 (12/12 in MVZ 40847) supralabials, first and second pitted, fifth with lateral depression, fifth to seventh (fifth to sixth in MVZ 40847) entering the orbit; 15/15 infralabials (lower jaw absent in MVZ 40848), seventh to 11th pitted; single loreal and preocular; single supraocular; 3/3 postoculars; 4–5 anterior temporals; 4–5 posterior temporals; two pairs of parietals, both in median contact enclosing a small rhombic interparietal in the center; maximum dorsal scale rows 43–44, ventrals 273–275, anal entire, subcaudals 68–70, mostly paired. The color of the dorsum is light reddish-brown fading to yellowish laterally and off-white ventrally in preservative. The dorsal surface of the head is black. Reference SCHLEIP, W. D. 2008. Revision of the Genus Leiopython Hubrecht 1879 (Serpentes: Pythonidae) with the Redescription of Taxa Recently Described by Hoser (2000) and the Description of New Species. Journal of Herpetology 42(4):645–667. |
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© 2001-2009
by Wulf Schleip