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The reticulated python (''Python reticulatus'') is a species of python found in Southeast Asia. They are the world's longest snakes and longest reptiles, but are not the most heavily built. Like all pythons, they are nonvenomous constrictors and normally not considered dangerous to humans. Although large specimens are powerful enough to kill an adult human, attacks are only occasionally reported. An excellent swimmer, ''P. reticulatus'' has been reported far out at sea and has colonized many small islands within its range. The specific name, ''reticulatus'', is Latin meaning "net-like", or reticulated, and is a reference to the complex color pattern.〔Gotch AF. 1986. ''Reptiles – Their Latin Names Explained''. Poole, UK: Blandford Press. ISBN 0-7137-1704-1.〕 ==Description== This species is the largest snake native to Asia. More than a thousand wild reticulated pythons in southern Sumatra were studied and estimated to have a length range of and a weight range of .〔Shine, R., Harlow, P. S., & Keogh, J. S. (1998). ''The influence of sex and body size on food habits of a giant tropical snake, Python reticulatus''. Functional Ecology, 12(2), 248-258.〕 Reticulated pythons with lengths more than are rare, though according to the ''Guinness Book of World Records'', it is the only extant snake to regularly exceed that length. A reticulated python of the same length as a green anaconda may weigh only half as much as the bulkier anaconda.〔 One of the largest scientifically measured specimens, from Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, was measured under anesthesia at and weighed after not having eaten for nearly 3 months. Widely published data of specimens that were reported to be several feet longer have not been confirmed. Even the specimen once widely accepted as the largest-ever "accurately" measured snake, that being Colossus, a male kept at the Highland Park Zoo (now Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the 1950s and early 1960s, with a peak reported length of , recently turned out to be wrong. When Colossus died on April 14, 1963, its body was deposited in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. At that time, its skeleton was measured and found to be 20 ft 10 in (6.35 m) in total length, significantly shorter than the measurement previously published by Barton and Allen. Apparently, they had been adding a few extra feet to the measurements to compensate for "kinks", since it is virtually impossible to completely straighten an extremely large live python. Too large to be preserved with formaldehyde and then stored in alcohol, the specimen was instead prepared as a disarticulated skeleton. The hide was sent to a laboratory to be tanned, but it was either lost or destroyed. Numerous reports have been made of larger snakes, but since none of these was measured by a scientist nor any of the specimens deposited at a museum, they must be regarded as unproven and possibly erroneous. In spite of what was for many years a standing offer of $50,000 for a live, healthy snake over long by the New York Zoological Society, known since 1993 as the Wildlife Conservation Society, no attempt to claim this reward was ever made.〔Murphy JC, Henderson RW. 1997. ''Tales of Giant Snakes: A Historical Natural History of Anacondas and Pythons''. Krieger Pub. Co. ISBN 0-89464-995-7.〕 The color pattern is a complex geometric pattern that incorporates different colors. The back typically has a series of irregular diamond shapes flanked by smaller markings with light centers. In this species' wide geographic range, much variation of size, color, and markings commonly occurs. In zoo exhibits, the color pattern may seem garish, but in a shadowy jungle environment amid fallen leaves and debris, it allows them to virtually disappear. Called disruptive coloration, it protects them from predators and helps them to catch their prey.〔Mehrtens JM. 1987. ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.〕 The smooth dorsal scales are arranged in 69–79 rows at midbody. There are deep pits on four anterior upper labials, on two or three anterior lower labials, and on five or six posterior lower labials.〔Boulenger, G.A. 1893. ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families...Boidæ...'' Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, Printers.) London. xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I.- XXVIII. (''Python reticulatus'', pp. 85-86.)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Reticulated python」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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