Abstract
Carpet pythons (Morelia spilota) are medium-sized non-venomous snakes inhabiting most of continental Australia and a small area of New Guinea. They have been relatively well studied in Australia, but little is known about the New Guinea population, even though it is harvested and exported from Indonesia for the international pet trade. In total, 281 locality records were compiled for two distinct populations south of latitude 7°S in Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian province of Papua. Traders in Papua collected 274 carpet pythons (most of which were recently hatched neonates) for the pet trade. Data from a sample of 174 individuals revealed little sexual dimorphism in any traits, although males appear to grow larger than females despite females maturing at greater lengths. Fecundity was high (average 17 eggs) and reproduction was highly seasonal, with hatching in December and January. Harvest quotas for the province of Papua were exceeded in all years between 2000 and 2009 due to 50% of the national quota being allocated to West Papua province where this species is yet to be recorded. The present study provides distribution, trade and ecological information to inform conservation management of this species in Indonesia.
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