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[Jonno from ERD]

G'day Mick,

There's a massive "wall" between the Alice Springs/McDonnell Range area in the form of the Simpson Desert, which is apparently uninhabited by Morelia (most Morelia require some sort of decent arboreal habitat and waterways to survive). All the waterways to the east side of the Simpson are interconnected and Morelia spilota metcalfei/variegata occur along most of them.

I am not 100% positive that the specimen collected near Birdsville isn't M.bredli as that would be foolish, but I would be willing to bet a lot of money that it wasn't - I have seen photos and live examples of specimens from in and around Birdsville (Windorah, Goyders Lagoon, Pandie Pandie, Innamincka) and they are definitely of the "Murray/Darling" race of Morelia. As we know with Jungles and Carpets, you can get both occuring in the same area but I highly doubt that M.bredli occur on the East side of the Simpson. West of Alice Springs is a totally different story - I wouldn't bat an eyelid if someone found them in WA - just recently a Neprhurus amyae was found in WA for the first time in the same are as Oxyuranus temporalis.

Cheers

Jonno