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Few herpetological contributions, all published prior to 1875, list Zamenis persicus Jan, 1863 (type material lost) as valid; a couple of contemporary and later references consider this Racer name a junior synonym of Turano-Sindian taxa of the genus Platyceps Blyth, 1860. Coluber longissimus var. persica Werner, 1913 is a Ratsnake species currently referred to Zamenis Wagler, 1830. For the sake of taxonomic stability, we reject Z. persicus Jan (nomen oblitum) under the provisions of Article 23.9.2 (Reversal of precedence) of the ‘Code’ (ICZN 1999) and declare the secondary homonym Z. persicus (Werner) as the valid name for the Persian Ratsnake. (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Re-examination of the holotype of Simotes semicinctus Peters, 1862 (ZMB 4553: “Borneo”) has shown that it does not differ from Coronella austriaca Laurenti, 1768. We therefore refer Simotes semicinctus to the synonymy of Coronella austriaca. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

We report on the rediscovery of the previously unlocated single type specimen of Naja (Hamadryas ?) fasciata Peters, 1861 from the collection of the Museum fur Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universitat Berlin, Germany (formerly Zoologisches Museum Berlin), review its taxonomic history, and provide a redescription of the specimen. Morphological examination revealed that it is not a member of Naja or Ophiophagus, but belongs to the endemic Philippine elapid genus Hemibungarus. The juvenile snake most closely resembles juveniles of Hemibungarus calligaster calligaster (Wiegmann, 1834) in characters of its external phenotype, and is therefore referred to the synonymy of the latter. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)