Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have kept burms for many years, and was wanting to research and look into picking up a pair of ceylonese aka Python Molurus Pimbura.. Only problem is, I just found out they are no longer classified as a subspecies.. Does anyone know what they are now classified as?

Thanks in advance to anyone who knows this..
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

I am not 100% sure but I think that ceylonese have been lumped back as a locale specific Indian Python. Like I said I am not sure but I think indians, ceylonese as well as sri lankans have all been lumped together. Todd

I've heard debates about everything from why/why not they should/should not be classified as Pimbura and the last time I heard, they were simply Molurus Molurus. Now, this may have changed (as facts tend to do, lol)...so, if someone else says something different, go with their reasoning over mine. Against that, I know that Bob Clark has some nice Pimburas. Might wanna check that out, they're reasonably priced, too. Good luck, they us know how it goes! This board doesn't hear too much about Pimburas.

Sam

First, excuse me for my English!

The Python m. pimbura is exclusively native of the Sri Lanka while the molurus molurus is native of West Pakistan, India, Nepal, south China and Bangladesh. The molurus bivittatus Thailand, Burma, Borneo.
Currently the pimbura is considered as a synonym or locality of the m. molurus.
Therefore also the "pimbura" is in CITES I.
To my opinion the definition of synonym is wrong in how much the molurus molurus and the pimbura are clearly different for morphology. For example the head of the molurus molurus is more lengthened and uniform while in the pimbura, it is visibly bigger to maxillary level.
The dimensions are different, the pimbura doesn't overcome the 3,5 meters while the m. molurus reaches the 5. The colors are different, the "pimbura" has the head with prevalence of red and rose and the lance it is very vanished. The molurus molurus has a prevalence of grey and brown.
Apparently they are animal completely different.
A comparison would be interesting to genetic level to understand if indeed they are two different subspecieses.

Davide Fain (from Italy)

My Python molurus

Hopefully they will be reclassified AGAIN back to a separate species/subspecies. (as serpentiit points out, there are several obvious differences) If I can find any info on the issue documented and stating why the relumping of the indians and pimburas I will post it.

Thanks again everyone.

Later
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

One other reason for the merging P. m. pimbura with P. m. molurus by CITES was due to the difficulty in differentiating the two from each other. It was easier to lump them together for enforcement purposes than to expect officials to try and ID the two separate subspecies. I got this directly some years ago from a CITES representative. Additionally, although color and pattern differences are quite apparent, scalation differences are very slight, and this presents a problem taxonomically. I strongly agree with Davide in that the head structure of m. pimbura shows considerable differences from than of m. molurus, and that the arrow marking on top of the head is virtually absent in a classic adult pimbura. It would be nice to see some indepth mDNA research on this group some day.

Kelly