How to Identify the Cyclops Green Tree Python (Identification Guide)

Key identifying features

The Cyclops green tree python is a locality form of Morelia viridis named for the Cyclops Mountains, an isolated range near Jayapura in northeastern West Papua. It shares the universal green tree python identification traits: a laterally compressed body, a strongly prehensile tail, and the characteristic coiled resting posture draped over a branch with the head positioned in the center of the coils.

Coloration & pattern

Adults typically display a rich, saturated green dorsal color, and this locality is often noted among keepers for relatively clean, evenly distributed coloration with light blue or white flecking that can vary from sparse to moderate between individuals. The venter is pale yellow to cream. Juveniles hatch in the bright yellow or red color phase typical of the species and undergo the characteristic transition to green over their first one to two years.

Head, eyes & scales

The head is large, triangular, and well set off from the neck, with heat-sensing pits visible along the labial scale row. Eyes are large with vertical pupils adapted for low-light activity in dense forest. Scales are small and smooth, lending a glossy quality to the coloration.

Size & body shape

Adults commonly reach 4 to 6 feet in length, with a slender, laterally flattened body and strongly prehensile tail characteristic of the species, used for anchoring while coiled on branches.

Range & habitat where you'll see it

This locality form is restricted to the isolated Cyclops Mountains range near Jayapura, a relatively small and geographically distinct montane forest habitat compared to the broader lowland range occupied by many other green tree python populations. Its restricted range and montane habitat make wild specimens uncommon and this locality rarer in the trade.

How to tell it apart from look-alikes

Because the Cyclops Mountains are geographically isolated, this population is thought to show subtly distinct coloration from surrounding lowland localities, though visual differences are not always definitive without verified collection data. Green tree pythons as a whole are distinguished from the unrelated emerald tree boa by geographic range and head scale/heat-pit arrangement, and from carpet pythons by uniform green adult coloration versus a blotched pattern.