Rich,

You’re absolutely correct in that there have always been errors in the common names applied to the three “curtus” group species. This occurs probably more so than with any other python taxon. It sounds like from what you have seen, the supralabials of hybrids do in fact contact the orbit, and that is good information to know. I am also curious about the natural hybrids between brongersmai and curtus. I have not seen much data on that at all and would be interested to acquire any available. It appears that this would be an extremely rare occurrence as the only possible zone of natural intergradation would be in a very small area at the extreme southern tip of Sumatra. I don’t believe the geographical range of P. curtus and P. brongersmai overlap at the northern tip near Banda Aceh, but I could be wrong on that. The Bukit Barisan mountain range along the western spine of the island literally runs tip to tip and forms a very powerful biological barrier to lowland species. My bigger fear would be of acquiring captive produced hybrids between any of this group, and I think this should be strongly discouraged.



As far as morphological distinction of P. curtus, I suggest that people check out the photo on Ian’s homepage. It also helps to copy the photo and enlarge it to see the head scalation. This is a classic adult P. curtus showing all three of the main identifying traits of this species. All of the dorsal blotches running the length of the back are not outlined in lighter pigment and clearly blend into the background coloration on the back. There is a row of small subocular scales separating the supralabials from the orbit. And the anterior parietal scales are small and in very minor contact at the centerline of the head. Additionally, there is no brown or tan coloration on the back, and this specimen is definitely an excellent example of P. curtus in my opinion. For clarification purposes, young and juvenile curtus will have coloration variance, but the adults lose virtually all of their brown and tan pigmentation, especially on the back.



That paper you referenced is probably the best out there on morphological characteristics, and also has some excellent info on the biogeography of the “curtus” group. Thanks,



Kelly

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