Editing Aspidites

{{Short description|Genus of snakes}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = ''Aspidites''
| image = Blackheaded_python.jpg
| image_caption = [[Black-headed python]], ''Aspidites melanocephalus''
| taxon = Aspidites
| authority = [[Wilhelm Peters|W. Peters]], 1877
| synonyms = * ''Aspidiotes'' <small>[[Gerard Krefft|Krefft]], 1864</small>
* ''Aspidiotus'' <small>W. Peters, 1876</small>
* ''Aspidites'' <small>W. Peters, 1877</small><ref name="McD99">McDiarmid RW, [[Jonathan A. Campbell|Campbell JA]], Touré T. 1999. ''Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1''. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. {{ISBN|1-893777-00-6}} (series). {{ISBN|1-893777-01-4}} (volume).</ref>
}}

'''''Aspidites''''' is a [[genus]] of [[Pythonidae|python]]s [[Endemism|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">{{ITIS |id=209582 |taxon=''Aspidites'' |accessdate=9 September 2007}}</ref>

==Description==
These snakes lack the heat-sensitive pits between the [[labial scales]] that most other python species have.{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}

The head is slightly wider than the neck, and the eyes are small, with a vertically elliptic pupils.<ref>[[George Albert Boulenger|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 habitat==
They are found in [[Australia]] except in the south of the country.<ref name="McD99"/>

==Behavior==
Both species are [[Nocturnality|nocturnal]],<ref name="Meh87">Mehrtens JM. 1987. ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. {{ISBN|0-8069-6460-X}}.</ref> and [[Terrestrial animal|terrestrial]].<ref>[[:fr:Coleman Jett Goin|Goin CJ]], Goin OB, Zug GR. 1978. ''Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition''. W.H. Freeman. San Francisco. xi + 378 pp. {{ISBN|0-7167-0020-4}}. (''Aspidites'', p. 319.)</ref>

==Reproduction==
[[Oviparous]], the females stay with their eggs until they hatch.

==Species==
{|cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 border=1 style="border-collapse: collapse;"
!bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Species<ref name="ITIS"/>
!bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Taxon author<ref name="ITIS"/>
!bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Common name<ref name="Meh87"/>
!bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Geographic range<ref name="McD99"/>
|-
|''A. melanocephalus''<span style="font-size:100%;"><sup>T</sup></span>
[[File:BlackHeadedPythonKingAshBay.jpg|150px]]
|([[Gerard Krefft|Krefft]], 1864)
|[[Black-headed python]]
|style="width:40%"|Australia in the northern half of the country, excluding the very arid regions.
|-
|''A. ramsayi''
[[File:Aspidites ramsayi -Australia Zoo, Queensland, Australia-8a.jpg|150px]]
|([[William John Macleay|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.
|-
|}
<br/>
<span style="font-size:100%;"><sup>T</sup></span>) [[Type species]].<ref name="McD99"/>

==Taxonomy==
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">{{NRDB species|genus=Aspidites|species=ramsayi|date=9 September|year=2007}}</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">[[Wolfgang Wüster|Wüster W]], Bush B, Keogh JS, [[Mark O'Shea (herpetologist)|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. [http://biology.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/FWit/LittSerp.pdf PDF] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809042710/http://biology.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/FWit/LittSerp.pdf |date=9 August 2007 }} at [http://biology.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/ Wolfgang Wüster] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925070717/http://biology.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/ |date=25 September 2006 }}. Accessed 10 September 2007.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[[Gerard Krefft|Krefft G]]. 1864. Description of ''Aspidiotes melanocephalus'', a New Snake from Port Denison, N.E. Australia. Proc. Zool. Soc. London '''1864''': 20–22. (''"Aspidiotes, nov. gen."'', p.&nbsp;20.)
*[[Wilhelm Peters|Peters W]]. 1877. ''Über die von S.M.S. Gazelle mitgebrachten Amphibien''. Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin '''1876''': 528–535, 914. (''Aspidiotus melanocephalus'', p.&nbsp;533; and ''Aspidites'', p.&nbsp;914.)

==External links==
{{Commons}}
* {{NRDB genus|genus=Aspidites|date=9 September|year=2007}}

{{Pythonidae}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1568114}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Pythonidae]]
[[Category:Snake genera]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters]]
[[Category:Snakes of Australia]]