John,
All boa and python species in the world are listed as CITES Appendix II species. The only python species in the world that is listed as CITES Appendix I is Python molurus molurus which would include both the Indian and Sri Lanka pythons. Any captive bred and produced Appendix I species, if produced from legal animals, are then considered Appendix II animals and can be traded as such with the proper CITES documentation. The caveat in the U.S. is that P. molurus molurus also falls under the U.S. Endangered Species Act which only applies in the U.S. and is separate from any CITES regulations. These CITES regulations would only come into play if you were moving listed animals from one country to another. CITES Appendix I species are essentially under trade lockdown and cannot be exported or imported except under extremely unusual and controlled circumstances. Appendix II species can be exported or imported with the proper CITES documentation.

There has been a constant back and forth argument for quite some time as to whether the Sri Lanka specimens are a separate subspecies. They were at one time considered P. molurus pimbura, but their current official status is P. molurus molurus of Sri Lanka origin. Many people, including myself, still continue to informally refer to them as pimbura. The main problem is that there are no definite morphologic characteristics to definitively distinguish them from mainland India molurus molurus. Color and pattern differences are usually relatively obvious, however no scalation or structural variances have been identified.

Really nice Sri Lanka specimens are hard to come by and genetic purity is always a major concern. There are only two main visual identifiers to distinguish them from mainland molurus. While some Sri Lanka individuals have a partial arrow on the top of the head, a complete lack of the arrow will pin it down for certain as no mainland specimens will ever show this total lack of an arrow marking. The second thing to look for is a series of dorsal “H” pattern markings. Mainland specimens will rarely show these, and if so, only one or two as opposed to a series of them. One of my females below shows both of these definitive traits. I believe nice Sri Lanka specimens are one of the most beautiful python species in the world.

Kelly

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