![]() ![]() These may give us some clue to its lifestyle: the high neural spines may indicate that Liasis dubudingala wsas arboreal (tree-dwelling). Liasis dubudingala is known only from isolated vertebrae, and it is assigned to the genus Liasis on the basis of overall similarity and possession of unusually high neural spines, as in Liasis olivaceus (the Olive Python) and Liasis mackloti (the Water Python). Liasis species differ from other snakes in having teeth on the premaxilla (a bone at the front of the snout), large, symmetrical shields (scutes) on the head, and pits in some scales along the side of the face. The bones of the skull and lower jaw are highly kinetic (moveable) in order to swallow large prey, as in most snakes, and the skin is extensible (elastic). Liasis species are pythons, large, bulky, slow-moving constrictors in the family Boidae. A snake of this size may have taken juvenile diprotodontids, birds, reptiles and arboreal mammals, all common at Bluff Downs. The only known specimen of Liasis dubudinala was found at Bluff Downs in northeastern Queensland, and is Pliocene in age (about 4.5 million years old). Liasis dubudinala is the largest snake known from Australia, estimated to have been about 9 metres in length.
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