Talk:Python (genus)

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New reference[edit]

Some with access may need to review this

LESLEY H. RAWLINGS, DANIEL L. RABOSKY, STEPHEN C. DONNELLAN, MARK N. HUTCHINSON (2008). "Python phylogenetics: inference from morphology and mitochondrial DNA". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 93 (3): 603–619. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00904.x.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Shyamal (talk) 10:04, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Images missing?[edit]

The species section may have been truncated or misedited. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.230.234.189 (talk) 21:05, 15 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Opening sentence[edit]

The opening sentence does not seem to make sense in the context of the article title. "Python, from the Greek word python (πυθων), is a genus of nonvenomous pythons...". Worded like that it appears just to be a statement of the obvious.

I also think the wording "nonvenomous pythons" implies that there are venomous pythons within the family pythonidae which is, of course, not the case.

How about this as an alternative?

"Python, from the Greek word python (πυθων) is a genus of non-venomous snakes. Python is the type genus (one of eight genera) of the family phythonidae."?

In addition, the article on pythonidae states that the genus python has seven species rather than the 17 stated here. Britannica says there are eight species in the genus python so I would bet the 17 is incorrect. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lotus49 (talk • contribs) 22:01, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The Trivia Section[edit]

"A python's skull greatly resembles a covenant elite's head from the halo series."

Apart from it being 'Halo' with a capital H, Covenant with a capital C and Elite with a capital E -these are names-, do you not believe it should be the other way around? The skull of the python was around long before Halo. If it is not by coincidence [citation would be needed here], then the head of the 'Covenant Elite' was based of the skull of a python. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.194.157.235 (talk) 01:42, 2 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Etymology of python[edit]

I removed "which in turn is from the Hebrew word פתן (Peten) or the Canaanite בת'ן (Bethen)^{[citation needed]}" as it seems to be completely unciteable. It's reasonable to discount a link to Pytho as folk etymology, but I can't find a corresponding argument that it's been borrowed from Hebrew or vice-versa Ms7821 (talk) 17:45, 18 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

P. curtus[edit]

Is it possible we can get a new image to represent this species, especially since the image currently being used is that of P. brongersmai? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.177.191.224 (talk) 21:14, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

They can be dangerous, no?[edit]

Entirely missing from the article is how the python kills its prey. It says "...pet pythons are relatively safe to own when proper safety is practiced..." with no indication what the danger might be. The illustrations are lovely, but the text needs work & expansion! --Hordaland (talk) 15:51, 4 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

When the above work has been done, a new section on non-venomous, dangerous snakes should be added to the article List of dangerous snakes. --Hordaland (talk) 20:38, 4 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Pythons are typically not classified as dangerous by professional herpetologists; rarely any deaths are attributed to any species in the captive animal trade and even rarer are deaths in their natural ranges. As such, it is not listed as dangerous because it does not actively hunt humans, nor does it have a lethal bite. Species such as Python regius and Python breitensteini among most of the others are completely physically incapable of killing any human, while the small risk that is presented by other species such as Python sebae only exists because of their larger size. Listing them all as dangerous would be similar to listing house cats as dangerous because pumas are capable of presenting a hazard to human life. In all, of what little deaths there are, they always occur as a result of human error, and only because a few species are of larger stature. A similar fate can be achieved by accidentally swallowing a crayon. Parks1997 (talk) 07:08, 29 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]