Aspidites

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Aspidites is a genus of pythons endemic to Australia. The name can be translated as "shield bearer" and pertains to the symmetrically shaped head scales. Currently, two species are recognized.<ref name="ITIS">{{#if:209582 | {{#invoke:template wrapper|wrap|_template=cite web|_exclude=id,ID,taxon

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DescriptionEdit

These snakes lack the heat-sensitive pits between the labial scales that most other python species have.Template:Citation needed

The head is slightly wider than the neck, and the eyes are small, with a vertically elliptic pupils.<ref>Boulenger GA. 1893. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families...Boidæ... Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, Printers.) London. xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I.- XXVIII. (Genus Aspidites, p. 91.)</ref>

Distribution and habitatEdit

They are found in Australia except in the south of the country.<ref name="McD99"/>

BehaviorEdit

Both species are nocturnal,<ref name="Meh87">Mehrtens JM. 1987. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. Template:ISBN.</ref> and terrestrial.<ref>Goin CJ, Goin OB, Zug GR. 1978. Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition. W.H. Freeman. San Francisco. xi + 378 pp. Template:ISBN. (Aspidites, p. 319.)</ref>

ReproductionEdit

Oviparous, the females stay with their eggs until they hatch.

SpeciesEdit

Species<ref name="ITIS"/>	Taxon author<ref name="ITIS"/>	Common name<ref name="Meh87"/>	Geographic range<ref name="McD99"/>
A. melanocephalus^T File:BlackHeadedPythonKingAshBay.jpg	(Krefft, 1864)	Black-headed python	Australia in the northern half of the country, excluding the very arid regions.
A. ramsayi File:Aspidites ramsayi -Australia Zoo, Queensland, Australia-8a.jpg	(Macleay, 1882)	Woma python	Australia in the west and center of the country: from Western Australia through southern Northern Territory and northern South Australia to southern Queensland and northwestern New South Wales. Its range may be discontinuous.

^T) Type species.<ref name="McD99"/>

TaxonomyEdit

Two new subspecies, A. ramsayi panoptes, the western woma python, and A. r. richardjonesii, the desert woma python, were described by Hoser (2001).<ref name="NRDB">Template:NRDB species</ref> However, these descriptions are questionable, as they do not include proper diagnoses and seem to be based only on distribution.<ref name="NRDB"/> <ref name="Wüs01">Wüster W, Bush B, Keogh JS, O'Shea M, Shine R. 2001. Taxonomic contributions in the "amateur" literature: comments on recent descriptions of new genera and species by Raymond Hoser. Litteratura Serpentium 21: 67-91. PDF Template:Webarchive at Wolfgang Wüster Template:Webarchive. Accessed 10 September 2007.</ref>