Snake ID - Kimberley Western Australia

[Elapidae1]

Thanks Scott

 

[PilbaraPythons]

The single sub-caudals V single and divided should not be given too much wieght. In the coastal plains of Pilbara I have found more than a few mulgas that have single sub-caudals only.

 

[Bushfire]

Hmm, after having a quick chat with Bryan Fry, it seems I was wrong! Whilst it was assumed that there were three species from the above mentioned localities, it seems they are indeed one, continuous species right across. However, there are still only three species (with three other possibles offshore), with the other two coming from desert regions.

Im not sure of the island stuff but I was sure the DNA pointed to three seperate mainland populations. Its abit hard to imagine they are all one.
P.weigeli (Kimberley) = heavy mottling
P.pailsei (Mount Isa) = plain
P.sp (NT) = somewhat of an intermediate between the above two.

 

[carpetmuncher]

Its a weigeli no question.....as for morphological difference between them and australis... maroon marking along the nape, much more slender build, smaller adult size and that the subcaudals are single vs divided.

Cheers,
Scott

maybe so, but can you tell all that from the photo?

 

[waruikazi]

Asking the wrong person but i assume it is. The full time herpers i know have all accepted it.

Is this splitting of P.nuchalis generally accepted, I mean visually there is obviously huge differences in appearance between specimens, most obviously the orange body and black head of P. mengdeni but I would have thought that they would overlap and naturally intergrade all to often. Experienced herpers have often had troubles between P. nuchalis and P affinis and these are believed to intergrade

 

[Hemiaspis]

It's definately P. weigeli. From the photo, the main feature that gives it away for me is the mottling in the dorsal pattern. Kimberly P. australis are much more subtle in dorsal pattern. Sometimes the mottling on Kimberly P. weigeli is so heavy, the three magenta lines on the nape, occur as spotting. Check out my photo album for additional pics of P. weigeli.

 

[Elapidae1]

Thanks Hemiaspis. I have never had much reason to look into P.weigeli and the scale shape automatically made me think the pics in this thread were P.australis, I did however pick up on the mottling but just presumed it to be a different form. The pics in your album are great and the first one in particular clearly displays the mottling and magenta stripes

 

[eipper]

Carpet muncher,

Certainly 2 are plainly obvious.....

Steve,

Aspidorhyncha, mengdeni and nuchalis are accepted by most that I know and a few reckon there may be more

Cheers,
Scott