Abstract
McDiarmid et al. (1999) published the first part of their planned taxonomic catalog of the snakes of the world. Since then, several new python taxa have been described in both the scientific literature and non-peer-reviewed publications. This checklist evaluates the nomenclatural status of the names and discusses the taxonomic status of the new taxa, and aims to continue the work of McDiarmid et al. (1999) for the family Pythonidae, covering the period 1999 to 2010. Numerous new taxa are listed, and where appropriate recent synonymies are included and annotations are made. A checklist and a taxonomic identification key of valid taxa are provided.
Highlights
Pythons represent a family of non-venomous basal snakes within the superfamily Pythonoidea Fitzinger, 1826
Type species: Python reticulatus Schneider, 1801 Remarks: Subsequent workers did not recognize Broghammerus until a new analysis combining morphological and molecular evidence (Rawlings et al 2008) led to a split of the genus Python. The latter authors expanded Hoser’s original concept of the genus to include the taxon timoriensis Peters, since they demonstrated that this species is more closely related to B. reticulatus than species retained within the genus Python
Remarks: Hoser (2004) provided characters to separate this taxon, but he attempts to distinguish this subspecies from the species “Broghammerus reticulatus”, which includes the subspecies itself
Summary
Pythons (family Pythonidae) represent a family of non-venomous basal snakes within the superfamily Pythonoidea Fitzinger, 1826 (sensu Vidal et al 2007, Vidal and Hedges 2009). Type species: Python reticulatus Schneider, 1801 Remarks: Subsequent workers did not recognize Broghammerus until a new analysis combining morphological and molecular evidence (Rawlings et al 2008) led to a split of the genus Python The latter authors expanded Hoser’s original concept of the genus to include the taxon timoriensis Peters, since they demonstrated that this species is more closely related to B. reticulatus than species retained within the genus Python (or to Austroliasis [i.e., Morelia], the genus to which Hoser assigned timoriensis). Remarks: Hoser (2004) provided characters to separate this taxon, but he attempts to distinguish this subspecies from the species “Broghammerus reticulatus”, which includes the subspecies itself This taxon is indistinguishable from other subspecies based on the original description and is treated as nomen dubium (APP5), and placed in the synonymy of the nominate form. The recognition of this genus is unwarranted and it is assigned to the synonymy of Python
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