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Australian Wildlife

  Amythystine Python (Morelia amethistina)





Amythystine Python | Morelia amethistina photo
Morelia amethistina from the Bronx Zoo in New York City

Image by One dead president - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







AMYTHYSTINE PYTHON FACTS

Description
The Amythystine Python or Scrub Python is the largest snake in Australia. This huge snake has been known to eat mammals as large as wallabies and kangaroos. It looks like a giant Carpet Python. It has large square plates (scales) on top of their head, where as Carpet Pythons have small scales on the head.

Other Names
Scrub Python

Size
3.5 to 5 metres. Can grow up to 7m long and weight a whopping 250kg.

Habitat
tropical rain forest, vine thickets, exposed rocky slopes during colder periods

Food
fruit bats, possums, rats, pademelons, small kangaroos and some birds. Its mouth is lined with backward-curving needle sharp teeth which it catches and holds it victims with. It then wraps coils of its body around the prey to constrict and suffocate it.

Breeding
Egg layer.

Range
tropics of North Queensland. Also found on islands of Torres Strait, New Guinea and eastern Indonesia.

distribution map showing range of Morelia amethistina in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Notes
Bites readily but the bite not dangerous. Due to its massive size and ability to take prey as large as wallabies, it could be dangerous to small children.



Classification
Class:Reptilia
Order:Squamata (Serpentes)
Family:Pythonidae
Genus:Morelia
Species:amethistina
Common Name:Amythystine Python

Relatives in same Genus
  Centralian Carpet Python (M. bredli)
  Carpet Python (M. spilota)
  Jungle Carpet python (M. spilota cheynei)
  Southwestern Carpet Python (M. spilota imbricata)
  Coastal Carpet Python (M. spilota mcdowelli)
  Inland Carpet Python (M. spilota metcalfei)
  Diamond Python (M. spilota spilota)
  Northwestern Carpet Python (M. spilota variegata)
  Green Python (M. viridis)