The irony is, of course, that the data on mtDNA variation in Morelia viridis HAS been published in the mainstream scientific literature, so no need to chase up the Qld. court system:



Phylogeographic analysis of the green python, Morelia viridis, reveals cryptic diversity

Rawlings LH, Donnellan SC

MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION

27 (1): 36-44 APR 2003



Abstract:

Green pythons, which are regionally variable in colour patterns, are found throughout the lowland rainforest of New Guinea and adjacent far northeastern Australia. The species is popular in commercial trade and management of this trade and its impacts on natural populations could be assisted by molecular identification tools. We used mitochondrial nucleotide sequences and a limited allozyme data to test whether significantly differentiated populations occur within the species range. Phylogenetic analysis of mtDNA sequences revealed hierarchal phylogeographic structure both within New Guinea and between New Guinea and Australia. Strongly supported reciprocally monophyletic mitochondrial lineages, northern and southern, were found either side of the central mountain range that runs nearly the length of New Guinea. Limited allozyme data suggest that population differentiation is reflected in the nuclear as well as the mitochondrial genome. A previous morphological analysis did not find any phenotypic concordance with the pattern of differentiation observed in the molecular data. The southern mitochondrial lineage includes all of the Australian haplotypes, which form a single lineage, nested among the southern New Guinean haplotypes. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.



Of course, Ray could not be expected to know this - after all, the paper appeared in the *scientific* literature, with which he clearly has considerably less interaction than with the Australian judiciary.



Note also that the major genetic subdivision is between populations from north and south of the Central Mtns of New Guinea, not between Australia and New Guinea. Certainly not particularly in favour of Ray's ideas.



Cheers,



Wolfgang
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