Papuan python variation...

Dear VPI,

I have recently heard that the Papuan python, Apodora papuana, not only lives is found throughout New Guinea, but also populates various islands. Is it possible that there are various locality morphs with different characteristics as is the case with scrubs? Thanks, fab.   

Dear fab,

The Papuan pythons from the eastern half of New Guinea are bigger and have a longer head than the Papuans from the Papuan pythonWestern Papua end of New Guinea.

I haven't seen specimens from Biak, but the few Misool animals I have seen look the same as the Western Papuan specimens from the Sorong area that are the variety most commonly encountered in captivity.  

I don?t think that Papuans are going to be like scrub pythons because the only islands on which Papuans occur lie close to New Guinea; the species never dispersed onto the more distant archipelagos as did scrub pythons.  DGB