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Issue: Vol. 4990 No. 1: 18 Jun. 2021
Type: Article
Published: 2021-06-18
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4990.1.8
Page range: 134-146
Abstract views: 1007
PDF downloaded: 28

On the identity, nomenclatural status and authorship of Coluber monticolus Cantor, 1839 (Reptilia: Serpentes)

1 Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
Suri Sehgal Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Bangalore, Karnataka 560064, India.
Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK. Senckenberg Dresden, Königsbrücker Landstraße 159, 01109 Dresden, Germany.
Reptilia Colubridae Coluber monticolus new synonymy reversal of precedence Boiga multifasciata [nomen protectum] Himalayas

Abstract

Currently, Coluber monticolus Cantor is considered a junior synonym of the Common kukri snake, Oligodon arnensis Shaw. In this work, we analyzed long time disregarded, unpublished original drawings and manuscripts concerning South Asian snakes. Additionally we recall the hitherto little-noticed contact and exchange between B. H. Hodgson and T. E. Cantor. We correct erroneous assumptions regarding the authorship and identity of C. monticolus and, in accordance with Art. 23.9 of the “Code” (ICZN 1999), we declare Dipsas multifasciata Blyth a nomen protectum with priority over Coluber monticolus Hodgson in Cantor (nomen oblitum).

 

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