Simalia clastolepis (HARVEY, BARKER, AMMERMAN & CHIPPINDALE, 2000)

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Higher Taxa	Pythonidae, Henophidia, Pythonoidea, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Southern Moluccan python G: Seram-Python, Goldpython
Synonym	Morelia clastolepis HARVEY, BARKER, AMMERMAN & CHIPPINDALE 2000 Australiasis clastolepis — HOSER 2004 Australiasis clastolepis — HOSER 2009 Morelia clastolepis — DE LANG 2013 Simalia clastolepis — REYNOLDS et al. 2014 Simalia clastolepis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 452 Simalia clastolepis — BARKER et al. 2015: 13
Distribution	Indonesia (Ambon, Seram; likely on Haruku and Saparua). Type locality: Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia
Reproduction	oviparous
Types	Holotype: UTA 44486
Diagnosis
Comment	This species is closely related to M. amethistina. Habitat: semi-arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018).
Etymology	Named after the Greek words “klastos” (meaning broken into pieces) and “lepis” (meaning scale), alluding to the fractured nature of the cephalic scales. Apparently based on the evolutionary species concept.
References	Akeret, B. 2008. Gefahrenpotenzial Riesenschlangen. Reptilia (Münster) 13 (72): 4-12 - get paper here Bär, R. 2005. Neuere Erkenntnisse zur Nomenklatur des Amethystpythons (Morelia amethistina (SCHNEIDER 1801)) und des Seram-Pythons (Morelia clastolepis (HARVEY et al. 2000)) sowie erstmalige Vorstellung einer weiteren Inselpopulation innerhalb des Morelia-amethist Elaphe 13 (2): 49-51 Barker, D. G., Barker, T. M., Davis, M. A. and Schuett, G. W. 2015. A review of the systematics and taxonomy of Pythonidae: an ancient serpent lineage. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 175 (1): 1-19; doi: 10.1111/zoj.12267 - get paper here Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here Harvey, Michael B., David B. Barker, Loren K. Ammerman and Paul T. Chippindale 2000. Systematics of pythons of the Morelia amethistina complex (Serpentes: Boidae) with the description of three new species. Herpetological Monographs 14: 139-185 - get paper here Lang, Ruud de 2013. The snakes of the Moluccas (Maluku), Indonesia. Edition Chimaira, 417 pp. - get paper here Reynolds, R. Graham; Matthew L. Niemiller, Liam J. Revell 2014. Toward a Tree-of-Life for the boas and pythons: Multilocus species-level phylogeny with unprecedented taxon sampling. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 71: 201–213 [published online in 2013] - get paper here Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
External links	National Center for Biotechnology Information Google images

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