German naturalist Hermann Schlegel described the green tree python in 1872 as "Python viridis", from two specimens collected in the Aru Islands of Indonesia. His countryman Adolf Bernhard Meyer erected the genus "Chondropython" (though recognised similarity to "Morelia") and described the green tree python as "Chondropython azureus" in 1874, from a specimen collected in "Kordo", later determined to be Korido on Biak Island. This was destroyed in World War II. French naturalist Henri Émile Sauvage described "Chondropython pulcher" from a specimen from Mansinam Island, Irian Jaya.