PAPUA NEW GUINEA SNAKEBITE PROJECT
I CAN'T SEE YOU

I then went back to the Ridge Guest House where I found I had a new and larger room in the main building. Owen set off for the airport and later that afternoon Ben arrived. I settled into my new room.

A snakeman's room

On the way back to the Ridge we dropped by Moale, Hayward's village, where a man had caught us a snake, something we discourage whenever possible because of the risks. However, this turned out to be a very nice Southern green tree python (Morelia viridis)* captured in the crown of an oil palm. I knew they were up there but have not searched for them as I am always looking down for venomous species, not up for pythons. As I was demonstrating the python to the villagers it decided to bite the back of my left hand. I did not pull away as that would create the impression it was dangerous so I let it let go of its own accord. I bled profusely and developed a huge haematoma but I assured everyone it was fine.

Southern green tree python, Morelia viridis

*A note about Green tree pythons: A 2003 paper demonstrated that Morelia viridis comprises two separate genetic populations, one north and one south of the central mountain ranges of New Guinea. Since the type locality of M. viridis is the Aru Islands the southern population retains that name while M. azurea (Meyer 1874) is available for the northern population.
See Rawling, L.H.& S.C. Donnellan 2003 Phylogeographic analysis of the green python, Morelia viridis, reveals cryptic diversity. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 27:36–44.
or download Schleip, W.& M. O'Shea 2010 Annotared checklist of the recent and extinct pythons (Serpentes, Pythonidae), with notes on nomenclature, taxonomy and distribution. ZooKeys 66:29-79.

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