The Timor python (''Malayopython timoriensis'') is a python

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), ...

found in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. A dwarf species, 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 recognized as being valid. Like all pythons, it is a nonvenomous constrictor; unlike larger species such as the

reticulated python The reticulated python (''Malayopython reticulatus'') is a Pythonidae, python species native to South Asia, South and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of largest snakes, longest snake, and the list of largest snakes, third heaviest snake. I ...

, it is not considered dangerous to humans.

Description

The Timor python is a fairly long, over , but relatively thin python. It has a series of heat-sensing pits between its nostrils and mouth used to find warm-blooded prey in total darkness. It is cold-blooded. Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. .

Geographic range

''M. timoriensis'' is found in Southeast Asia on the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands (, , ), now known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (, or "Southeast Islands"), are an archipelago in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within the Wallacea region, except for the Bali pro ...

(

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. The area is 14,250 km2. Including Komodo and Rinca islands ...

, Lombien and

Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

islands), its type locality is given as "

Kupang Kupang (, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 Indonesian census, 2020 Census, it had a population of 442,758;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as o ...

, (Timor)" ndonesia This may not accurately reflect the location where the specimen was collected.

Behavior

''M. timoriensis'' is partly

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

."''Malayopython timoriensis'' ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.

Feeding

Captive specimens of ''M. timoriensis'' have been known to accept birds and small mammals.

Reproduction

''M. timoriensis'' 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 ...

Taxonomy

''Liasis amethystinus'' var. ''timoriensis'' was the scientific name proposed by

Wilhelm Peters Wilhelm Karl Hartwich (or Hartwig) Peters (22 April 1815 – 20 April 1883) was a German natural history, naturalist and explorer. He was assistant to the anatomist Johannes Peter Müller and later became curator of the Natural History Museum, ...

in 1876. Peters W (1876). "''Über die von S. M. S. Gazelle mitgebrachten Amphibien'' ". ''Monatsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin'' 1876: 528–535 + Plate. (''Liasis amethystinus'' var. ''timoriensis'', new variety, p. 533 + Plate, figures 3, 3a, 3b, 3c). (in German). Authors of a

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

study suggested that the Timor python together with the reticulated python should be moved to a distinct genus ''Broghammerus''. Subsequent phylogenetic analyses have supported the separation of the Timor and reticulated pythons from genus ''Python''. However, ''Broghammerus'' is considered an invalid name by most authorities, which made R. Graham Reynolds et al. formally rename this clade ''Malayopython'' in 2014, a decision that was followed by many authors.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1815261 Pythonidae Reptiles of Timor Reptiles of Indonesia Reptiles described in 1876 Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters