How to Identify the Yapen Green Tree Python (Identification Guide)
The Yapen locality of the green tree python, from an island in Cenderawasih Bay, is recognized by its bright green coloration with scattered yellow or blue flecking and the species' typical arboreal build.
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Key identifying features
The Yapen green tree python is a locality form of Morelia viridis from Yapen Island in Cenderawasih Bay, north of the New Guinea mainland. It displays the universal green tree python traits: a laterally compressed body, a strongly prehensile tail, and the species' characteristic coiled resting posture draped over a branch.
Coloration & pattern
Adults typically show bright to medium green coloration with scattered flecking that can appear yellow, white, or blue depending on the individual. The belly is pale cream to yellowish-white. Juveniles hatch in the bright yellow or red phase common to the species and gradually transform to green over their first one to two years of life.
Head, eyes & scales
The head is broad, triangular, and clearly offset from the neck, with heat-sensing pits along the lip scales used to detect prey. Eyes are large with vertical pupils suited to low-light activity. Scales are small and smooth, contributing to a glossy sheen.
Size & body shape
Adults commonly reach 4 to 6 feet, with a slender, laterally flattened body and a strongly prehensile tail, the same body plan seen across all green tree python localities.
Range & habitat where you'll see it
This locality form is native to Yapen Island, situated in Cenderawasih Bay off the northern coast of New Guinea, not far from Biak Island. It inhabits lowland island forest, typically found coiled on shrubs and low branches within the canopy and understory.
How to tell it apart from look-alikes
Yapen individuals overlap in appearance with nearby Biak Island populations, and reliable separation of the two localities by eye alone is difficult without confirmed collection data. As with all green tree pythons, this form is distinguished from the unrelated emerald tree boa by geographic range and head scale/heat-pit differences, and from carpet pythons by its solid green adult pattern rather than a blotched one.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Yapen Island?
It lies in Cenderawasih Bay off the northern coast of New Guinea, near Biak Island.
How does Yapen compare to the nearby Biak locality?
The two show overlapping coloration and are difficult to distinguish visually without confirmed collection locality.
What color are juveniles?
Juveniles are bright yellow or red at hatching and become green as they mature.
Is this snake dangerous?
No, it is a non-venomous constrictor.