Heleionomus Gray, 1842

Schleip, Wulf D. & O'Shea, Mark, 2010, Annotated checklist of the recent and extinct pythons (Serpentes, Pythonidae), with notes on nomenclature, taxonomy, and distribution, ZooKeys 66, pp. 29-80 : 41

Genus Heleionomus Gray, 1842 [synonym of Python]

Synonyms:

Helionomous Gray, 1841 (nomen nudum) - Hoser 2004 (nomen nudum APP6)

Remarks:

The type species for Heleionomus Gray, 1842 is Heleionomus variegatus [= Python natalensis ]. The resurrection of the genus Heleionomus for Python sebae and Python natalensis is unwarranted because the actual status of natalensis and sebae has not been fully resolved and, furthermore, separation from Python would compromise monophyly of the genus Python . Rawlings et al. (2008) showed a sister-group relationship between sebae and molurus and that the genus Python (after exclusion of reticulatus and timoriensis) forms a monophyletic group. This genus is therefore assigned to the synonymy of Python .