''Antaresia'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of pythons, nonvenomous snakes in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Pythonidae The Pythonidae, commonly known as pythons, are a Family (biology), family of Venomous snake, nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia. Among its members are some of the largest snakes in the world. Ten Genus, genera and 39 specie ...

. The genus is native to

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

. The genus is known by the

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

Children's pythons, the name of the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, '' Antaresia childreni''.

Gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

named ''A. childreni'' in honour of his mentor,

John George Children John George Children Royal Society, FRS FRSE Fellow of the Linnean Society, FLS Royal Entomological Society, PRES (18 May 1777 – 1 January 1852 in Halstead, Kent) was a British chemist, mineralogist and zoologist. He was a friend of Sir Humph ...

, who was a curator of the zoological collection at the British Museum around that time. It contains the smallest members of the

. Four

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), ...

and two subspecies are recognized, although they were all considered part of the same species until recently. A newly described form called the pygmy banded python may be a distinct species, but analysis has not yet been performed on this animal. The largest recorded examples of ''Antaresia'' species have all been males, suggesting males of the known species in this genus may compete for females. This behavior has never been witnessed in the wild, and has only been witnessed in captive specimens.

Geographic range

Species in the genus ''Antaresia'' are found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, in arid and tropical regions.

Species

*) A taxon author in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Antaresia''. ^T)

Type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

Taxonomy

The

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

name, ''Antaresia'', is taken from the star

Antares Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. It has the Bayer designation α Scorpii, which is Latinisation of names, Latinised to Alpha Scorpii. Often referred to as "the heart of the scorpion", Antares is flanked by ...

in the constellation

Scorpius Scorpius is a zodiac constellation located in the Southern celestial hemisphere, where it sits near the center of the Milky Way, between Libra to the west and Sagittarius to the east. Scorpius is an ancient constellation whose recognition pred ...

. The generic name was created in 1984 by Wells and

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

in a revision of Children's pythons, those previously described as a single species in the genus ''

Liasis ''Liasis'' is a genus of snakes in the Family (biology), family Pythonidae. Species of the genus ''Liasis'' are native to Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia. Currently, three Extant taxon, extant species are recognized, and one giant fossil spec ...

''. Despite a petition to suppress the taxonomic work of these authors, it gained wide acceptance and publication in 1991. Fou
species
and two subspecies are currently recognized in the genus ''Antaresia'', which is contained by the family

; infraspecific ranks have also been described. A subspecies, ''A. stimsoni orientalis'' was described by L.A. Smith (1985), but was not recognized as valid by Barker & Barker (1994). It is now recognized as valid b
ITIS
as well as A. stimsoni stimsoni. . (''Antaresia papuensis'', new species).

In captivity

The members of the genus ''Antaresia'' are often kept as pets due to their small size, docile temperaments, strong feeding responses, resiliency and easy captive care. They are often seen as a good beginner species for keeping reptiles, particularly snakes. While not as popular or diverse in colors as ball pythons, these snakes can range in color from albino and leucistic to ebony, melanistic, and piebald color morphs to name a few. The varying coloration between individuals also makes them quite attractive to many who work with and breed exotic reptiles. In captivity, the members of this genus are very tolerant of differing humidity levels ranging from 20%-80% due to the wide range of habitats they occur in, and shedding problems that occur in captive animals are usually the result of temperatures being too high or low rather than problems with humidity. ''Antaresia'' species are also fairly easy to breed, though some individuals (mostly males) may refuse to eat when they are interested in mating.

References

External links