St Francis Imbricata Pictures

[stiffler]

Heres a couple of pics of a St Francis Imbricata Python. These are the most unique carpet python in Australia, being the smallest and the rarest both in captivity and in the wild.
Very little is known about them other than they are very difficult to keep and breed in captivity. There has never been any bred in captivity, even with many attempts to do so. They are also hard to get feeding, some say even harder than the hardest Stimpsons. This, together with the very remote possibility of them being allowed to be taken from the Island with permission, makes them a poor choice for hobbist keepers.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics as they are very few of them also around.

 

[gecko-mad]

wow

 

[dottyback]

fantastic!

 

[kupper]

thats a very differant looking snake

 

[zoolander]

There has never been any bred in captivity, even with many attempts to do so. They are also hard to get feeding, some say even harder than the hardest Stimpsons.

the hardest stimpsons (sic) are still very easy to get feeding. if there are hardly any in captivity, this explains why they aren't bred, not a predisposition to being hard to breed.

 

[also76]

thanks for the pics. . . id have to agree with zoolander and say stimsons arent hard to get feeding ?
either way, nice post good pics. thanks

 

[pythons73]

They look a little Darwinish,i cant beleive their hard to breed or to get feeding.If their keeped in the same conditions as in the wild,why would they be hard to breed,or to get feeding.People ust to say Chondros etc were hard to breed,look at the number being breed now,How many are in captivity,interesting to no as to why their hard to breed,cause theres not many in captivity,or not being keeped in the same conditions as the wild....Any info regarding this would muchly be appreciated...

 

[stiffler]

Well a couple of things. Firstly, some Stimpsons are exremely hard to get feeding, and these guys are even harder. Infact there are a couple in captivity who have never taken a meal themselfs and have been forcefed for years. And these keepers are every bit as knowedgable as those who have commented here. Secondly, there have been a number of pairs taken from the Island with research permits to try and get them to breed, none have been able to do so. This includes SXR reptiles haveing them and have been unable to get them to breed. Not just novices. I am sure there is a trick to get them to breed, and it could be done in captivity with enough trial and error. However, they are the hardest of any carpet to breed, regadless if you think you could do it.
Nice looking snakes but

 

[kupper]

hmmm interesting if stoney cant breed them then the species is doomed LOL

 

[stiffler]

hmmm interesting if stoney cant breed them then the species is doomed LOL

Well if he cant Im pretty sure you wouldnt

 

[Sdaji]

...ignoring that they're Carpet Pythons...

They're very intesting looking Carpets, I like the black, probably an adaptation to their natural climate.

If they've never been bred in captivity then how does anyone know how easy it is to get them feeding? Maybe if they hatched in captivity they'd be brilliant feeders, but until that happens we won't have a single case study to reference. It's not unusual for wild caught pythons to be difficult to get feeding after capture. Even the nastiest Stimpson's (sic) are strong feeders once they're started, so there isn't a valid comparison.

I doubt they would be too difficult to breed, they're just a Carpet Python. If you got 10 randomly selected pairs of Carpet Pythons of most types, you would expect to get pairs which would never breed, pairs which would breed normally, and pairs which would just about breed if you kept them in the fridge. If only a small number have been taken from the wild, it's more likely there was just bad luck in their selection, and it may not even be that those individuals are poorly suited to captivity, just poorly suited to making the transition from wild to captive.

How many have been collected? It seems a bit contradictory to say that there have been 'many attempts' to breed them if they are the 'most rare' type of Carpet Python; 'many attempts to breed' aren't possible if there aren't many of them.

 

[Sdaji]

no need to be a smart ***

Pot calling the kettle black?

 

[Contagion]

I totally agree with sdaji on this one. Not enough information has been collection to make the claim that these guys are anything worse then any other carpet.

As for them being the smallest carpet... How small we talking? I've seen lowland jungles barely on 1m in length at 5+ years of age.

 

[Jonno from ERD]

I also doubt they are the "rarest" locality or species of Morelia...M.s.imbricata are very common in some localities, and there have been more than a few found on St Francis Island. Morelia carinata are known from less than 20 confirmed animals in the wild and there has been a single animal found on Bigge Island.

 

[craig.a.c]

Just looks like a dark Darwin carpet to me, doesn't do much for me.


It's Stimson NOT Stimpson.

 

[cement]

Nice animals regardless. Heaps of morph potential with Imbricata.

 

[stiffler]

I also doubt they are the "rarest" locality or species of Morelia...M.s.imbricata are very common in some localities, and there have been more than a few found on St Francis Island. Morelia carinata are known from less than 20 confirmed animals in the wild and there has been a single animal found on Bigge Island.

They are the rarest "carpet python" in Australia. There is only approx 300 of them kicking around according to the Museum of SA. Im not too sure what other carpet has numbers as low as this.

 

[stiffler]

I totally agree with sdaji on this one. Not enough information has been collection to make the claim that these guys are anything worse then any other carpet.

As for them being the smallest carpet... How small we talking? I've seen lowland jungles barely on 1m in length at 5+ years of age.

Due to their isolation on this small Island their gene pool is extremely small, thus leading to reduction of size. Much like is seen on Island forms of Tiger snakes. Infact there is also a population of dwarf Tigers on St Francis Island as well. Most carpets found on St Francis are less than a meter with the occasional big one comming in at 1.2 meters. I have seen many, many, many Jungles over 1.2 meters.

 

[stiffler]

There was a call for this to python to be seperated form the normal mainland imbricata. Heres a paper written by some dude who did some study on them.

MORELIA MACBURNIEI SP. NOV.

HOLOTYPE

A specimen at the South Australian Museum (SAM), Adelaide, SA, Specimen number: R13994 from St. Francis Island, in the Nuyts Archipelago near Ceduna in South Australia, Lat: 32°31’ Long: 133°18’.

PARATYPE

A specimen at the South Australian Museum (SAM), Adelaide, SA, Specimen number: R19072 from St. Francis Island, in the Nuyts Archipelago near Ceduna in South Australia, Lat: 32°31’ Long: 133°18’.

DIAGNOSIS

A medium to large python similar in most respects to the others in the genus Morelia. It is separated from its closest relative Morelia imbricata (To which it would have keyed out as using pre 2002 taxonomy) by a suite of characteristics including a higher incidence of scale anomalies particularly with regards to ventral scales in the from of longitudinally split ventrals, half ventrals, transversely divided ventrals or incompletely transversely divided ventrals, remnant or partially inserted ventrals or incompletely formed ventrals (such as in two halves).

This species is differentiated from Morelia from the adjacent South Australian mainland by having lanceolate-shaped dorsal scales as opposed to more rhomboidal-shaped dorsal scales. This same characteristic also separates Morelia imbricata from other southern Australian Morelia.

Morelia macburniei sp. nov. is further separated from Morelia imbricata by distribution (believed to be several hundred kilometers).

While Morelia macburniei is highly variable in individual colouration and pattern, the colouration of the species tends to look more like Morelia from the South Australian mainland as opposed to Morelia imbricata, even though Morelia macburniei’s dorsal scales are more like those of M. imbricata. This species cannot be definitively separated from other Morelia on the basis of scalation alone as these properties (ventral counts and the like) may overlap with other Morelia. Morelia macburniei sp. nov. is separated from all other Morelia by colouration and patterns as seen from a comparison of specimens, distribution and DNA properties. It is the only species to occur on St. Francis Island.

 

[Contagion]

Due to their isolation on this small Island their gene pool is extremely small, thus leading to reduction of size. Much like is seen on Island forms of Tiger snakes. Infact there is also a population of dwarf Tigers on St Francis Island as well. Most carpets found on St Francis are less than a meter with the occasional big one comming in at 1.2 meters. I have seen many, many, many Jungles over 1.2 meters.

Fair point then, I'd be interested to see some pics of older adults.

And yes, that's because jungle vary greatly depending on the locality. I didn't say all jungles are small, in fact i specified to say lowland forms (such as your classic palmerstons, tully, cowley beach etc) often don't reach much over 1m.