Python is a genus of non-venomous snakes that are the type genus of the family Pythonidae, and thus considered true pythons.

Like other pythons, true pythons are ambush hunters who latch onto their prey with a bite and kill by coiling and constricting until the heart or lungs fail, lay and nest on clutches of eggs, and generally have flecked scales and a long forked tongue. Size varies between species within a range of a few meters, with the largest Python being one of the largest species of snakes overall.

The various species are native to areas from sub-Saharan Africa to the islands of Southeast Asia, but individuals have been spread worldwide due to some's sale as domestic pets, with an infamous invasive presence arising out of the United States in the Florida Everglades.

As of 2024, the genus is recognized to contain ten extant species and one extinct, and is the largest genus in Pythonidae.

Pythons were originally classified as members of the genii Boa and Coluber when Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus defined both taxons in 1758, but B. molura and C. sebae were resorted into their current genus Python by French zoologist François Marie Daudin in 1803, and became the type genus for Pythonidae in 1826 as Austrian zoologist Leopold Fitzinger defined it.

The genus' etymology derives from the Ancient Greek Πύθων, the name of a mythological scalie slain by the god Apollo according to the Homeric Hymns.

See also

• reptile (class: Reptilia)
• snake (suborder: Serpentes)
• alethinophidian (infraorder: Alethinophidia)
• afrophidian (clade: Afrophidia)
• pythonid (family: Pythonidae)
• Python

External links

• Wikipedia — Python (genus)