Python curtus brongersmai

Python curtus brongersmai
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Pythonidae
Genus:	Python
Species:	P. curtus
Subspecies:	P. c. brongersmai
Trinomial name
Python curtus brongersmai Stull, 1938
Synonyms
Python curtus brongersmai - Stull, 1938 Python curtus brongersmai - Stimson, 1969[1]

Python curtus brongersmai, a subspecies python, is a non-venomous snake found on the Malay Peninsula.^[2]

Description

Adults generally grow to 137-182 cm (4.5-6 feet) in length, with females usually a little longer than males, and usually weigh 5.4–9 kg (12-20 lb); much more than other snakes of similar length.

The color pattern consists of rich, bright red to orange to a duller rusty red ground color, although populations with yellow and brown are known. This is overlaid with yellow and tan blotches and stripes that run the length of the body, as well as tan and black spots that extend up the flanks. The belly is white, often with small black markings. The head is usually a shade of grey; individual snakes can change how light and dark the head is. A white postocular stripe runs down and back from the posterior edge of the eye.

Common names for Python curtus brongersmai include the regional Malayan short python and the red blood python for its colour variation. Orange-red colour morphs are only found among this population.^[3]

Geographic range

The type locality given is "Singapore, Malay Peninsula."^[1]

Behavior

These are nocturnal snakes, spending most of the day hiding under leaves, logs, and shallow water in the marshy forests they inhabit. They do not actively hunt; rather, they lie in wait for rodents and other small mammals to wander by.

Reproduction

Oviparous, with up to 30 eggs being laid at a time. The female coil around her eggs and shivers her body, producing heat to incubate the eggs properly.

Uses

Once widely considered to be generally unpredictable and aggressive, these snakes are gradually becoming more common among herpetoculturists. Formerly, many of the specimens in captivity were wild-caught adults from Malaysia. These are known to be more aggressive than those from Indonesia (Sumatra), from which most of the wild-caught, wild-bred, and captive-bred stock are now descended. Captive-raised juveniles generally become mild-tempered, somewhat-predictable adults. This, combined with several new brightly-colored captive bloodlines, is helping to boost the popularity of these much-maligned snakes among reptile hobbyists.^{[citation needed]}

The snake is part of a commercial harvest for leather.^[3]

Taxonomy

The subspecies was first described by Olive Griffith Stull in 1938.^[4] The group has since been elevated and recognised as a full species by Pauwels et al. (2000).^[3][5]

See also

• List of pythonid species and subspecies.
• Pythonidae by common name.
• Pythonidae by taxonomic synonyms.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} McDiarmid 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).
2. ^ "Python curtus brongersmai". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=635074. Retrieved 12 September 2007. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Keogh, J. S.; Barker, D. Shine, R. (2001). "Heavily exploited but poorly known: systematics and biogeography of commercially harvested pythons (Python curtus group) in Southeast Asia (abstract)". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 73 (1): 113. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2001.tb01350.x. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118995661/abstract. 
4. ^ Stull, O.G. 1938. Three New Subspecies of the Family Boidae. Occ. Pap. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 8: 297-300.
5. ^ Python brongersmai at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 15 September 2007.

Further reading

• Barker, Dave and Tracy (November 2007). "Blood Pythons," Reptiles Magazine. Bowtie Publishing.

External links

• Blood Pythons, Informations and Care at Vida Preciosa International, Inc.. Accessed 12 September 2007.
• Blood python care at NERD Herpetocultural Library. Accessed 12 September 2007.