Antaresia stimsoni

Stimson 's python ( Antaresia stimsoni )

The Stimson 's python ( Antaresia stimsoni ) is a species in the genus Antaresia in the family of pythons ( Pythonidae ).

Features

The Stimson python has an elongate, hardly remote from the neck head. Head and body top are brown with darker, large spots that are paired on the body and partially spread to the sides of the body, thus resulting in a banded appearance. The belly is cream to white. Coloring, drawing patterns and Pholidose vary greatly in the distribution area. Adult specimens are on average 70 to 80 cm long, the maximum length is 140 cm.

The Pholidose varies greatly in the distribution area. On the large frontal shield bordered each side of the head a Supraokularschild. A pair Internasalschilde and one to three pairs Präfrontalia are present. The single pair Parietalschilde is occasionally shared by one to three Interparietalschilden. 4 to 18 and two or three Lorealschilde Präokularschilde are present. The mouth is surrounded 10-15 Supralabialschilden and 11 to 16 Infralabialschilden. The hull has 30 to 47 rows of smooth scales at its center, 243-302 Ventralschilde and 30 to 45 usually divided Subkaudalschilde and an undivided anal shield.

Sometimes two subspecies are distinguished, each of which has the eastern A. orientalis see a stronger body markings and a smaller number of scales and shields in the middle of the fuselage than the type subspecies A. s stimsoni.

Distribution and habitat

The Stimson python has the widest distribution of all Australian pythons. The species is found from the west coast on a number of offshore islands and in the majority of Australia's domestic and missing only in the northern, eastern and southern coastal areas. A. s stimsoni can be found here in Western Australia from Perth to the Pilbara region, see A. orientalis in the rest of the range.

Sometimes it comes to Bastardisierungen with Antaresia childreni and Antaresia maculosa.

The species occurs in different habitats, from mountain slopes and plains to bushland, and is modeled preferably in crevices and caves.

Way of life

The Stimson 's python is mainly nocturnal and hunts amphibians, lizards, birds, bats and other small mammals. In the Australian spring, the females lay up to ten bonded to a nest of eggs, which hatch 25 to 30 cm long boy after 51-70 days.

Swell

• Ludwig Trutnau: Non-toxic snakes, Part 1 4th edition. Eugen Ulmer GmbH & Co., Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3223-0.