Aspidites melanocephalus (KREFFT, 1864)

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Higher Taxa	Pythonidae, Henophidia, Pythonoidea, Serpentes (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Black-headed Python G: Schwarzkopfpython
Synonym	Aspidiotes melanocephalus KREFFT 1864: 225 Aspidites [melanocephalus] PETERS 1876 (nomen novum pro Aspidiotes) Aspidites melanocephalus — BOULENGER 1893: 91 Aspidites melanocephalus — STIMSON 1969 Aspidites melanocephalus — KLUGE 1993 Aspidites melanocephalus — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 164 Aspidites melanocephalus — COGGER 2000: 601 Aspidites melanocephalus adelynensis HOSER 2001 Aspidites melanocephalus davieii HOSER 2001 Aspidites melanocephalus rickjonesii HOSER 2009 Aspidites melanocephalus — SCHLEIP & O’SHEA 2010 Aspidites melanocephalus — WILSON & SWAN 2010
Distribution	Australia (North Territory, Queensland, West Australia) Type locality: Bowen (for Port Denison), Queensland, Australia adelynensis: Australia (Western Australia); Type locality: Wyndham, Western Australia. Holotype: WAM R51208 davieii: Australia (Western Australia); Holotype: WAM R46170. Type locality: Tom Price, Western Australia. Map legend: - Region according to the TDWG standard, not a precise distribution map. NOTE: TDWG regions are generated automatically from the text in the distribution field and this does not always work properly. We are working on it.
Types	Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.8.2
Comment	Type species: Aspidiotes melanocephalus KREFFT 1864 is the type species of the genus Aspidites PETERS 1876 [1877]: 533, 914. Aspidiotes is preoccupied by Aspidiotes BOUCHÉ 1844 (Hemiptera) and Aspidiotes SCHOENHERR 1847 (Coleoptera). Synonymy: note that KAISER et al. rejected the names coined by HOSER. Subspecies: Hoser’s subspecies should be treated as questionable as they are not well diagnosed, partly only based on distribution. Hoser’s subspecies are often named after friends, relatives or other popular figures. Hoser (2000) provided the same erroneous accession number for the holotype as was already provided by Smith (1985) in his original description; WAM R51208 is the number for a skink, Eremiascincus isolepis (fide Mecke et al. 2009). Hoser (2009) had also designated the same holotype and paratypes for rickjonesii as for A. m. davieii. The former name is thus not available. Reproduction: oviparous.
References	Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. London (Taylor & Francis), 448 pp. - get paper here Cogger,H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp. Franz, V. 2003. Pythons of the World. Reptilia (GB) (27): 16-23 - get paper here Grace, J. 1997. Captive breeding of the Black-headed python, Aspidites melanocephalus. Monitor: Journal of the Victorian Herpetological Society. 9 (1): 8-9 Hoser, R. 2009. Creationism and contrived science: a review of recent python systematics papers and the resolution of issues of taxonomy and nomenclature. Australasian Journal of Herpetology 2: 1-34 - get paper here Hoser, Raymond 2000. A Revision of the Australasian pythons. Ophidia Review 1: 7-27 Kluge, Arnold G. 1993. Aspidites and the phylogeny of Pythonine snakes. Records of the Australian Museum (Supplement 19): 1-77 Krefft, G. 1864. Description of Aspidiotes melanocephalus, a new snake from Port Denison, N.E. Australia. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 14: 225-226 - get paper here Krefft,G. 1864. Description of Aspidiotes melanocephalus, a new snake from Port Denison. Proc. zool. Soc. London 1864: 20-22 - get paper here Longman, H. A. 1916. Snakes and lizards from Queensland and the Northern Territory. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 5: 46-51 McDiarmid,R.W.; Campbell,J.A. & Touré,T.A. 1999. Snake species of the world. Vol. 1. Herpetologists’ League, 511 pp. Merahtzakis, G. 1995. Nachzuchterfolg bei Aspidites melanocephalus. Elaphe 3 (3): 7-8 Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1876. Über die von S. M. S. Gazelle mitgebrachten Amphibien. Monatsber. königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin. 1876 (August):528-535 - get paper here Seung Hoon, Cha 2012. Snake, the world most beautifull curve [in Korean]. Hownext, 304 pp. [ISBN 978-89-965656-7-3] - get paper here Somaweera, R. 2009. Snakes of Darwin. Poster, University of Sydney Wilson,S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp. Winchell, S. 2009. Pythons Australiens. Reptilia (Münster) 14 (5): 16-27 - get paper here Worrell, E. 1951. Classification of Australian Boidae. Proc. R. zool. Soc. New South Wales, Sydney, 1949-50: 20—25
External links	http://www.amonline.net.au/herpetology/research/pdf/pythonidae.pdf http://www.best.com/~watr/gal14.html http://www.arod.com.au/arod/reptilia/Squamata/Boidae/Aspidites/melanocephalus Google images

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