The Reticulated Python is the well—known member of the genus Malayopython. There is, however, a second species in the genus. The Timor python is not as long – reaching about 2.4 m (8 ft) in total length and 9 kg in weight. Timor Pythons are a green-brown snake with a dark brown pattern from its head to its mid-body. The posterior half of its body is a uniform brown, and like the Reticulated Python, its skin can be iridescent.
The Timor Python has had a turbulent systematic history. Peters originally called it Liasis amethystinus var. timoriensis. Hubrecht (1879: 17) renamed it, Liasis petersii. Fourteen years later Boulenger (1893:85) moved it to the genus Python. Kluge (1993) moved it to the genus Morelia, and Mcdiarmid et al. (1999), moved it back to Python. Reynolds et al (2014) found it to be the sister of the Reticulated Python and that both species were distant from the other members of the genus Python and erected the genus Malayopython for both species.
Despite its name, the Timor Python is not found on Timor but in the Lesser Sunda Islands, including Komodo, Lombien, and Flores where they inhabit open forests and grasslands
Timor Pythons become sexually mature at about four years of age. Females usually lay five or six eggs. Like some python species, the female coils around the eggs while they incubate for nine to 10 weeks. The female helps regulate the temperature of her eggs through muscular tremors.
