Definition: What is a "Carpet"?

[REM955]

I pretty much came to just think "Morelia" came to represent "Carpets" in that not all Morelias are Carpets but all Carpets are Morelia.

I want to say this happened around the time of Tinley Park NARBC, but someone made the claim it also referred to the Pine Snake, Pituophis melanoleucus.

Has anyone else heard this?

[jjhill001]

Originally Posted by REM955

I pretty much came to just think "Morelia" came to represent "Carpets" in that not all Morelias are Carpets but all Carpets are Morelia.

I want to say this happened around the time of Tinley Park NARBC, but someone made the claim it also referred to the Pine Snake, Pituophis melanoleucus.

Has anyone else heard this?

It's a local common name, some pituophis are also referred to as chicken snakes.

[Bandit]

Originally Posted by jjhill001

It's a local common name, some pituophis are also referred to as chicken snakes.

If you hear "chicken snake" here it's always a rat snake haha.

[dannybgoode]

Originally Posted by Bandit

If you hear "chicken snake" here it's always a rat snake haha.

And it is exactly these reasons why binomial name are so useful. There can be no ambiguity then. They can be a pain to learn but I at least learn those of the snake that I own and am expending that out to snakes I'm interested in.

[jjhill001]

Originally Posted by dannybgoode

And it is exactly these reasons why binomial name are so useful. There can be no ambiguity then. They can be a pain to learn but I at least learn those of the snake that I own and am expending that out to snakes I'm interested in.

I think now that we have sort of "industry standard" common names that things are a bit less confusing nowadays than they used to be. I used to check out books from the library way back when and two books would use different names to talk about the same dang snakes lol.

[dannybgoode]

Originally Posted by jjhill001

I think now that we have sort of "industry standard" common names that things are a bit less confusing nowadays than they used to be. I used to check out books from the library way back when and two books would use different names to talk about the same dang snakes lol.

But even from this thread it's clear we don't. Crikey even something as common as P regius is a royal python over here and a ball python over there. There's only one Python regius though.

It gets even more confusing when talking to a non-English speaker as their language my well have its own common name.

And we only have 'industry standard' names for the most prevalent species. Binomial names leave no margin for error.

[dannybgoode]

Morelia spilota sp. are carpet pythons hence why bredli technically no longer are as the are no longer a spilota sub species.

So you have for example Morelia spilota harrisoni, Morelia spilota cheyni etc.

You then have the non-carpet Morelia - Morelia virdis, Morelia bredli etc. Scrub pythons used to be classed as Morelia but they no have their own classification of Simalia.

Edit: note the word 'carpet' is used due to the varied and bright patternation.

[jjhill001]

However, anyone seen selling pine snakes as carpet snakes deserves to be laughed at because they clearly haven't bothered to at least familiarize themselves with common hobby terms. But that's why you should always have a scientific name for the animals you're selling.

[pinefamily]

Until they get re-classified.

[dannybgoode]

Originally Posted by pinefamily

Until they get re-classified.

Well but then the previous name is a recognised synonym.

The op wood not have asked the question is common names were a perfect descriptor of genus/species afterall.

They certainly wouldn't have asked the question Definition: What is a "Morelia spilota" with the accommodation text they used.

Reclassification also tells us something new about the biology of the genus/species - binomials are not changed on a whim unlike common names.

They're quite good fun to try and learn and to discover hey they were arrived at too.

[dannybgoode]

For example look up why Boa constrictor longicaudi is this called

[pinefamily]

Sorry, I should have put a smiley, I was being a bit tongue in cheek.
The reclassification happens more commonly with lizards in my experience. There seems to be ongoing research into our Aussie monitors, and new species are being "found" all the time.