For a while considered a [[subspecies]] of ''[[Sumatran short-tailed python|Python curtus]]'', ''P. breitensteini'' was re-elevated to a full species by [[J. Scott Keogh|Keogh]], [[David G. Barker|Barker]] and [[Richard Shine|Shine]] (2001).<ref name=RDB>{{NRDB species|genus=Python|species=breitensteini|date=29 December|year=2015}}</ref> The [[Specific name (zoology)|specific name]], ''breitensteini'', is in honor of [[:de:Heinrich Breitenstein|Heinrich Breitenstein]], a [[Germans|German]] [[physician]] and [[Natural history|naturalist]] who collected [[amphibians]] and [[reptiles]] in Borneo.<ref>[[Richard Allen "Bo" Crombet-Beolens|Beolens B]], [[Michael Watkins (zoologist)|Watkins M]], [[Michael Grayson|Grayson M]] (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. (''Python breitensteini'', p. 38).</ref>
