Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Try the next-generation Data Catalog at catalog-beta.data.gov and help shape it with your feedback.

Cytonuclear discordance in the Florida Everglades invasive Burmese python (Python bivittatus) population reveals possible hybridization with the Indian python (P. molurus)

Metadata Updated: January 20, 2026

Invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) have been reproducing in the Florida Everglades since the 1980s. Introduction of the species was either due to unintentional escapes or intentional releases from snakes obtained through the commercial pet trade. Burmese pythons have caused a precipitous decline in small mammal populations in south Florida. To better understand the invasive population, two mitochondrial loci (mtDNA; 1398 bps) were sequenced on 426 snakes and 22 microsatellites were genotyped on 389 snakes. Concatenated cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase 1 mtDNA sequences produced six haplotypes with a nucleotide and haplotype diversity of π=0.002 and h=0.097, respectively. The dominant haplotype was highly divergent from the second most frequent haplotype (π =0.0388). The average number of microsatellite alleles and expected heterozygosity were NA = 5.50 and HE = 0.60, respectively. Nuclear Bayesian assignment tests supported two genetically distinct groups and an admixed group. The effective population size was lower than expected for a population of this size (Ne =315.1), but reflective of the overall low genetic diversity. Patterns for genetic diversity between mtDNA and microsatellites were disparate, indicating nuclear introgression of separate mtDNA stocks due to interbreeding among sympatric populations/stocks of P. bivittatus. Alternatively, hybridization between P. molurus and P. bivittatus may have occurred in native or captive populations. The introgression may have occurred in the native range, breeding of disparate stocks in the pet trade, or in the invasive habitat. The invasive Florida Burmese python sequences were similar to the published sequences identified as P. bivittatus and P. molurus, however the nuclear diversity was nearly half of that reported in wild populations sampled within the native range.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date January 13, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 20, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 13, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 20, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_5939b022e4b0764e6c5ec8fb
Data Last Modified 2020-08-30T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Datagov Dedupe Retained 20260119194142
Harvest Object Id 70669fbc-feaf-4ddc-92a8-89a11c7e312a
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -87.6200, 24.5400, -87.6200, 31.0000, -80.0200, 31.0000, -80.0200, 24.5400, -87.6200, 24.5400}
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 5b644ba9e4f9c75703c5755fba680b4f262f80b771c60dd3a05d13b3cf416356
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -87.6200, 24.5400, -87.6200, 31.0000, -80.0200, 31.0000, -80.0200, 24.5400, -87.6200, 24.5400}

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.