Tropidonotus piscator unicolor Wall, 1907

Published, First, 2012, 3473, Zootaxa 3473, pp. 1-60 : 22

Tropidonotus piscator unicolor Wall, 1907

[ Tropidonotus piscator ] var. unicolor Wall, 1907: 860 .—Type locality. “Ajmere”, now Ajmer , State of Rajasthan, India.—Onomatophores. Syntypes: not traced .

Status. A subjective junior synonym of Tropidonotus sanctijohannis Boulenger, 1890 , now Xenochrophis piscator . Synonymized with Natrix piscator by Smith (1943: 294).

Comments. Wall (1907) regarded this taxon as a variety of Tropidonotus piscator , but provided a valid description. We therefore consider that Wall adopted a trinominal nomenclature, making valid his description. Obviously, Wall included many specimens under this name, but briefly mentioned only one specimen, from “Ajmere”. Wall (1907: 861) erroneously considered that Coluber melanzostus was a synonym of T. piscator unicolor . Morphological characters provided by Wall show that the variety unicolor is the same taxon than T. sanctijohannis Boulenger, 1890 .