Morelia viridis
| Morelia viridis | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Pythonidae |
| Genus: | Morelia |
| Species: | M. viridis |
| Binomial name | |
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Morelia viridis (Schlegel, 1872) |
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| Synonyms | |
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The green tree python (Morelia viridis) is a species of python native to New Guinea, islands in Indonesia, and Cape York Peninsula in Australia. Described by Hermann Schlegel in 1872, it was known for many years as Chondropython viridis. As its name suggests, it is a bright green snake that can reach 2 metres in length and 1.6 kg in weight, with females slightly larger and heavier than males. Living generally in trees, the green tree python mainly hunts and eats small reptiles and mammals. It is a popular pet and numbers in the wild have suffered with large-scale smuggling of wild-caught green tree pythons in Indonesia. Despite this, the green tree python is rated as least concern on the IUCN Red List of Endangered species.
German naturalist Hermann Schlegel described the green tree python in 1872 as Python viridis, from two specimens collected in the Aru Islands of Indonesia. His countryman Adolf Bernhard Meyer erected the genus Chondropython (though recognised similarity to Morelia) and described the green tree python as Chondropython azureus in 1874, from a specimen collected in "Kordo", later determined to be Korido on Biak Island. This was destroyed in World War II. French naturalist Henri Émile Sauvage described Chondropython pulcher from a specimen from Mansinam Island, Irian Jaya.
For many years, the green tree python was classified as the only species of the genus Chondropython, with the binomial name C. viridis. In 1993, Professor Arnold G. Kluge published a detailed phylogenetic analysis that found that the green tree python was nested within the genus Morelia and most closely related to the rough-scaled python (M. carinata). Hence became Morelia viridis. Two studies of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA published in 2013 and 2014 came up with differing results, one confirming the species in Morelia, the other placing it as an early offshoot with the Children's python genus Antaresia. This latter result was thought anomalous by later researchers.
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