Morelia (snake)

Morelia
Morelia spilota
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Pythonidae
Subfamily: Pythoninae
Genus: Morelia
Gray, 1842
Synonyms
  • Morelia Gray, 1842
  • Simalia Gray, 1849
  • Chondropython Meyer, 1874
  • Aspidopython Meyer, 1874
  • Hypaspistes Ogilby, 1919
  • Australiasis Wells & Wellington, 1984
  • Nyctophylopython Wells & Wellington, 1984[1]
  • Montypythonoides M.J. Smith & Plane, 1985[2]

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]

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).

  1. ^ McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré TA (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. ^ Scanlon, J.D. (2001). "Montypythonoides revisited: the Miocene snake Morelia riversleighensis (Smith and Plane, 1985) and the question of pythonine origins". In Hand, S.J.; Laurie, J.R. (eds.). Riversleigh Symposium 1998: Proceedings of a Research Symposium on Fossils from Riversleigh and Murgon, Queensland, held at the University of New South Wales, December, 1998. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 25. pp. 1–35.
  3. ^ "Morelia". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 10 September 2007.