''Python anchietae'' (with common names Angolan python and Anchieta's dwarf python)Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . is a

python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (prog ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

. According to

Donald George Broadley Donald George Broadley (1932–2016) was an African herpetologist. He described as new to science 115 species and subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for popula ...

(1990), this species is most closely related to the

ball python The ball python (''Python regius''), also called the royal python, is a python species native to West and Central Africa, where it lives in grasslands, shrublands and open forests. This nonvenomous constrictor is the smallest of the African ...

(''P. regius'') of western Africa, and no

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are currently recognized. It is named after the Portuguese naturalist and explorer

José Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta José Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta (variations José d'Anchieta, José Anchieta, José de Anchieta - b. October 9, 1832 in Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal, d. September 14, 1897 in Caconda, Portuguese Angola) was a 19th-century Portuguese explorer a ...

. Like all other pythons, it is not venomous.

Description

''Python anchietae'' may grow up to 183 cm (6 ft) in total length (including tail). The color pattern is a reddish-brown to brown to almost black ground, overlaid with irregular white or cream-colored bands and spots. The belly is yellowish. A rare

seldom seen in the wild or in captivity, it is the only python to have "bead-like" head scales. It has heat sensitive pits, five on each side of the head, on the upper lip. The smooth dorsal scales are arranged in 57-61 rows. Branch, Bill (2004). ''Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa''. Third Revised edition, Second Impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. (''Python anchietae'', p. 59 + Plate 17).

Distribution and habitat

''Python anchietae'' is found in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

in southern

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

and northern

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. The type locality given is "Catumbella atumbela near Lobito, Angola. Habitats are rocky outcrops or areas strewn with rocks in open brush or grassland. Diurnal, they shelter in small caves, overhangs and crevices.

Behaviour and biology

''Python anchietae'' exhibits hisses, which are mostly bluff. Its diet consists of small mammals and birds. It is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

, with small

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...

es of four to five eggs being produced at a time. Hatchlings are long.

Description

Distribution and habitat

Behaviour and biology

References

Further reading