In terms of classifying animals (specifically pythons), I wonder. There were the old days, when people couldn't go and perform a DNA sequence test, yet they still managed to classify animals. People like to jump down Hoser's throat (albiet his stance seems bloated), but I fail to see the synonyms in currently accepted taxa. I have never seen a scientific paper or publication that outlines and addresses the various genuses (morelia, python, liasis, etc). Where do these various genuses start to take some accountability? I believe I have a small python book that does a mediocre job at breaking down the various genuses. For liasis, for example, it states that "members of the liasis family do not have prehensile tales" yet my White Lip's tail is damn prehensile. Might sound like a broken record here, but same goes for water pythons I have been affiliated with. I guess my question is; people want validity out of Hoser. If he cannot provide it, then I want validity from the accepted classifications. Just what *does* liasis mean? As far as I'm concerned, my white lip is just that... a white lipped python. Where do we take the critics hats off? Id like to know how classification was dealt with before DNA testing was available.

john
1.0 D'albertis python (Liasis JohnBertisi)
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