1 84 Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature COLUBER CHIAMETLA SHAW, 1802 (REPTILIA, SERPENTES): REVIVED PROPOSAL FOR SUPPRESSION UNDER THE PLENARY POWERS Z.N.(S.) 1704 By Hobart M. Smith and Rozella B. Smith (Department of Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA) In 1965 one of us (H.M.S.) presented a proposal for the suppression of Coluber chiametla Shaw, 1802, on the grounds that it was a nomen oblitum {Bull. zool. Nomencl. 22: 235-6). The proposal was supported by Professor Carl Gans but opposed by the late James L. Peters (1967, Bull. 24: 138). He claimed that the junior name involved, Drymobius margaritiferus (Schlegel, 1837), had not been referred to outside the systematic literature, and only rarely in that literature. Thus the changes of name (for two subspecies, from D. margaritiferus margaritiferus and D.m. fistulosus Smith, 1942 to D. chiametla chiametla and D.c. margaritiferus) would soon be accepted by the few specialists concerned. A reply {Bull. 24: 269) mentioned the existence of about 1 25 references to margaritiferus in the Uterature relating to Mexico and Guatemala alone (the species ranges from southern Texas to northern South America). It is perhaps the commonest snake in lowland Mexico and is represented by large numbers of specimens in museums and zoos. It is admittedly true that it is Uttle known outside the systematic and zoogeographical literature except for a few ecological works. 2. The revised Articles 23 and 79 adopted by the Monaco Congress in 1972 require two conditions to be met before sl prima facie case can be presented to the Commission for the suppression of an unused senior synonym : affirmation that the senior name has not been used as a valid name for the past 50 years, and that the threatened junior name has been used in at least 10 different works by five different authors during the same period. As the original proposal in this case came from our laboratories, it is incumbent on us to complete the documentation necessary for consideration of the case by the Commission. 3. Usage of the senior synonym.-We know of only four usages of the specific name chiametla as a valid name after its first proposal: two by Merrem (1820: 135; 1822: 594), and one by Wagler (1824: 14) all, as first pointed out by Gans (1964: 35), as Matrix chiametla; and one by Boie (1827: 533) as Coluber chiametla in a comment on Merrem, 1820. The only other citations Bull. zool. Nomencl. vol. 35, part 3, February 1979
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