Trigonocephalus wagleri var. celebensis Gray, 1849

Vogel, Gernot, David, Patrick, Lutz, Mario, Rooijen, Johan Van & Vidal, Nicolas, 2007, Revision of the Tropidolaemus wagleri-complex (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae). I. Definition of included taxa and redescription of Tropidolaemus wagleri (Boie, 1827), Zootaxa 1644 (1), pp. 1-40 : 10

Trigonocephalus wagleri var. celebensis Gray, 1849

Trigonocephalus wagleri, var. celebensis Gray, 1849: 9 . Name appearing in the synonymy of Trimesurus subannulatus Gray, 1842 , as a name provided or written on a label by the Leyden Museum. —Type locality. “ Celebes ”, now Sulawesi. — Holotype. BMNH 49.3.2.38 (female).

Comments. Gray (1849) cited this taxon in the list of available material of Trimesurus subannulatus Gray, 1842 , stating that the relevant specimen or name, or both originating from the Leyden Museum. Was this binomen regarded by Gray as a valid subspecies or a synonym of Trimeresurus subannulatus? Both interpretations are possible, but the sole fact that Gray (1849) cited this taxon under the genus Trigonocephalus , and not under the genus Trimesurus , makes clear that Gray merely copied the name as received from Leyden and regarded it at once as a synonym of Trimesurus subannulatus .

The combination Trigonocephalus wagleri, var. celebensis was mentioned for specimen “d.”, as the name attached to this specimen that was sent to the collections of the British Museum of Natural History by the Museum of Leyden. Whether the binomen was written on the label or on any other document is unclear to us. The catalogue of the BMNH includes only one specimen from Sulawesi donated by the Leyden Museum, which should be the specimen cited by Gray (1849) .

According to Art. 11.6.1 of the Code, a name described as a junior synonym should be considered to be available if it was subsequently but before 1961 treated as an available name and adopted as the name of a taxon. This was the case in, at least, Peters (1872b: 584), who cited Tropidolaemus subannulatus Gray var. celebensis and thus made the name available.

Status. Taxon here regarded as a subjective synonym of Tropidolaemus subannulatus ( Gray, 1842) , but available, as Tropidolaemus ( subannulatus ) celebensis , for populations inhabiting Sulawesi which would prove to be distinct from both Tropidolaemus subannulatus and Tropidolaemus laticinctus .