Diamond Pythons In Blue Mountains?

[Dicco]

What's an intergrade?

Would you have any idea as to how common an occurance it is for them to cross where they over lap Steve?

 

[Parko]

Lmao, yeah get it right mate! :wink:
Krusty, perhaps what you saw was one of these diamond/inland intergrades? Otherwise the two are overlapping in their different forms still?...

 

[dpeica]

I have seen pics of them, theres was a place about 2 yrs drive from Mudgee, maybe 50km away that also had inland/ diamond crosses.

Bathurst is the best known place where this happens. From what i know it's only in the river beds and surrounds.

The spilota/metcalfei intergrades look fairly similar to a standard diamond, don't they?
I lived in Bathurst most of my life and never managed to find one.
Heard of people finding them along the maquarie river out the Bridle track way though.

 

[Davem54]

Thats exactly what I have heard too dpecia. Maybe it is one of those stories that get around or maybe it is true???

 

[Rennie]

When you say ''crosses'' you do mean natural intergrades right?

No, duga goes out and forces the diamonds to mate with the inland carpets just to upset the natural balance of nature. You evil person you. :twisted:

 

[Davem54]

Here is a very old pic (pre digital days) of a diamond found in the Jenolan Caves region, roughly that area anyway.Certainly that far west.

 

[foxdingo]

I Have also lived in Bathurst all my life...I have talked to Peter Carter, and he was saying that there is diamond pythons around but they look more like a normal carpet python.

 

[zen]

Does anybody have any reports of Diamond Python popluations still existing in the Blue Mountains, apart from the Yellow Rock population? From the description this guy gave me i tend to believe that he may well have seen a Diamond.

Mr Bredli, Diamonds are found throughout the Blue Mountains though they're rarely seen by bushwalkers as they're so cryptic. Their camouflage in dappled shade is phenomenal :!:
It probably was a Diamond that he saw. What size was it? If it was really big it couldn't have been anything else.

They appear to get rarer and darker the higher up the mountains you go. I've only heard of one report as high as Katoomba. There's the occasional scattered sighting at various other locations high up as well, but only very rarely it seems.

I've got some pics in the archives somewhere that I'll try and dig up.

That's a nice yellow specimen there Dave.
Blows my theory out of the water that they're generally blacker the higher up you go. :?

 

[olivehydra]

Does anybody have any reports of Diamond Python popluations still existing in the Blue Mountains, apart from the Yellow Rock population? From the description this guy gave me i tend to believe that he may well have seen a Diamond.

Mr Bredli, Diamonds are found throughout the Blue Mountains though they're rarely seen by bushwalkers as they're so cryptic. Their camouflage in dappled shade is phenomenal :!:
It probably was a Diamond that he saw. What size was it? If it was really big it couldn't have been anything else.

They appear to get rarer and darker the higher up the mountains you go. I've only heard of one report as high as Katoomba. The occasional scattered sighting at various other locations high up as well, but only very rarely it seems.

I've got some pics in the archives somewhere that I'll try and dig up.

That's a nice yellow specimen there Dave.
Blows my theory out of the water that they're generally blacker the higher up you go. :?

By no means an expert on the area, but I think I recall seeing a diamond in the Blackheath area. Is this higher than Katoomba? Yes it was a while ago, and could have been Leura

 

[Parko]

Zen, Jenolan caves isn't that high, about 800m above sea level i believe, as it is in a valley it doesn't get the proper snow falls that the high spots beside it do, these high spots are often at around 1200m above sea level and it makes sense that the darker specimens would have a better chance of surviving.

 

[zen]

Thanks for that correction there Parko. Your absolutely right there. I've just looked at a topo map of Jenolan & its quite a bit lower than the surrounding area.

:idea: I wonder if the Diamonds persist in the river valleys up into the high country but avoid the higher points that get colder.

Prof Shine suggested that the main ridge/s of the Great Dividing Range was a disjunction rather than an overlap of ranges of the subspecies.
I think he also mentioned that there are 2 points where the GDR is bisected by river valleys around Lithgow & the Hunter.

So it seems by what you guys were saying before about the Diamond and metcalfei intergrades around Bathurst, the Diamonds may have slipped through the river valleys of Lithgow to get to Bathurst.

Diamonds were also common in the Cox's River Valley pre 1900, so they may persist up through that way as well, like the Jenolan specimen that Dave pictured, which looks pure to me.




Olivehydra said:-

I recall seeing a diamond in the Blackheath area. Is this higher than Katoomba? Yes it was a while ago, and could have been Leura

That's interesting if you found a Diamond in Blackheath, as I've never heard of one being found there.
Blackheath is about the same altitude as Katoomba or a bit higher.
Katoomba is about 1000 - 1050 whereas Blackheath is about 1000 - 1086 metres.
Though many say Blackheath is colder due to the windchill factor.

Olivehrdra, was it Blackheath or Leura?? Dig deep mate! :wink:
Either way I've never heard of them at either Blackheath or Leura till now. But if they're found at Katoomba albeit rarely, then why not either side :?:



P.S - I'm still looking for pics to illustrate the darker the higher you go theory.
Now where are they :lol:

 

[zen]

This specimen found near Wentworth Falls, about 800 metres.

 

[Ricko]

is that held in captivity now? if so how does that work?