speculative hypothesis, but the changing of seasons
might just act as a temporal trigger to start the colour
change in native GTPs.
References.
Shine R., Olsson, M. M. & Mason, R. T. 2000, Chastity
belts in gartersnakes: the functional significance of mat-
ing plugs. Bio. Jour. of the Linnean Soc. 70(3): 377-390.
Maxwell, G. 2003, The Complete Chondro. ECO Pub-
lishing, USA, 247pp.
Wilson, D., Heinsohn, R. & Endler, J. A. 2006, The
adaptive significance of ontogenetic colour change in a
tropical python. Biol. Lett. 3(1): 40-43.
Wilson, D., & Heinsohn, R. 2007, Geographic range,
population structure and conservation status of the green
python (Morelia viridis), a popular snake in the captive
pet trade. Aust. Jnl. Zool. 55(3): 147-154.
My thanks go to Assoc. Prof. Jamie Seymour for prepar-
ing the histological material and micro-photography,
Prof. Rick Shine for his valuable comments and Dr Cathy
Shilton for her professional interpretation of the images.
Above: Sorong-locality GTP.
Opposite page: yellow and red juvenile GTPs prior to onset of
OCC.
2 qtr page ad