Simalia clastolepis (HARVEY, BARKER, AMMERMAN & CHIPPINDALE, 2000)
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Simalia clastolepis
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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: 158 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, adult female; paratypes: UTA |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. A large species of Morelia distinguished from all its congeners by the following characteristics: (1) two to three pairs of enlarged, symmetrical parietals in contact medially or rarely separated by irregular and asymmetrical interparietals; (2) dorsal pattern nearly uniform in adults; diffuse pattern visible in juveniles; bands numerous though not countable because of fading on anterior half of body; (3) adults gray with black eyes or brown with bronze eyes; (4) neck bars absent; (5) postocular stripe visible only in neonates; (6) adults heavy bodied; reaching 3.8 m and 8.5 kg; (7) snout round in dorsal view; (8) ontogenetic color change pronounced in xanthic specimens, absent in axanthic specimens; (9) cephalic scales numerous and exhibiting derived conditions not seen in other scrub pythons such as suboculars and high numbers of ocular, interparietal, and labial scales (Table 2). Unlike all other scrub pythons, adult Morelia clastolepis lack postocular stripes. Neck bars are absent in adults and juveniles. Unlike M. nauta, M. castolepis is a robust (versus gracile) species with a rounded snout (versus acuminate). Unlike M. tracyae, the iris of this species is bronze or gray (versus red), and, when present, dorsal bands are narrow, faint, and visible only on the posterior one-third to one-half of the body and tail (bands wide, prominent, and visible throughout the body). One of the most distinctive features of this species is its unusual cephalic squamation. Morelia clastolepis is the only species of the genus that has suboculars. Several other meristic characters (number of postoculars, supralabials behind eye, interparietals) were more frequently high in this species than in other scrub pythons. (Harvey et al. 2000: 158) |
| 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. |
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