An evaluation of the nomina for death adders (Acanthophis Daudin, 1803) proposed by Wells & Wellington (1985), and confirmation of A. cryptamydros Maddock et al., 2015 as the valid name for the Kimberley death adder Author Ellis, Ryan J. Collections & Research, Western Australian Museum, Welshpool WA 6016, Australia & Biologic Environmental Survey, 24 - 26 Wickham St, East Perth, Western Australia 6004, Australia. Author Kaiser, Hinrich Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany; and Department of Biology, Victor Valley College, 18422 Bear Valley Road, Victorville, California 92395, USA Author Maddock, Simon T. Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, WV 1 1 LY, United Kingdom & Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, SW 7 5 BD, United Kingdom & Island Biodiversity and Conservation Centre, University of Seychelles, Mahé, Seychelles Author Doughty, Paul Collections & Research, Western Australian Museum, Welshpool WA 6016, Australia Author Wüster, Wolfgang 0000-0002-4890-4311 Molecular Biology and Evolution at Bangor, School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, LL 57 2 UW, United Kingdom Corresponding author. w. wuster @ bangor. ac. uk; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 4890 - 4311 w.wuster@bangor.ac.uk text Zootaxa 2021 2021-06-29 4995 1 161 172 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.4995.1.9 1175-5326 5043906 959FF3A5-63AD-496D-AB24-B704C998B8FF Availability of Acanthophis schistos Wells & Wellington, 1985 The name Acanthophis schistos has remained unused in the peer-reviewed scientific literature sensu Kaiser et al. (2013) since Shea (1987) , Aplin (1999) and Aplin & Donnellan (1999) declared it a nomen nudum . The original description by Wells & Wellington (1985) reads as follows, reproduced here as in the original, including errors in spelling and punctuation ( Wells & Wellington 1985: 44 ): “ Acanthophis schistos sp.nov. Holotype : An adult specimen in the Western Australian Museum R 64698. Collected at Canning Dam , Western Australia . Diagnosis: A short bodied, thickset, highly venomous snake of the genus Acanthophis , most closely related to Acanthophis antarcticus , and readily distinguished by the data given in Storr (1981:206-207 , Fig. 2). Cogger (1983:423 , Figs 185,763) provides an adequate diagnostic description of its nearest relative Acanthophis antarcticus .” Storr (1981: 206) , the only diagnostic work listed by Wells & Wellington (1985) for text to diagnose this taxon, began his A. antarcticus account with specimens from the South West and Eucla Divisions of Western Australia . Once again, it is clear that Storr was describing and diagnosing his concept of the single species A. antarcticus , in which he included the type locality of Sydney, New South Wales . Nothing in Storr’s paper explicitly restricts the applicability of his description to Western Australian A. antarcticus . Consequently, as in the cases listed earlier, Storr’s description cannot act as a “description or definition […] purported to differentiate the taxon .” Acanthophis schistos Wells & Wellington, 1985 is therefore not compliant with Article 13.1. of the Code , and a nomen nudum . The current valid name of these snake populations is A. antarcticus ( Fig. 1D ).