[Taxacom] Aenetus versus Achladaeus

Wed Aug 31 17:17:59 CDT 2016

When I tried that link I noticed that had a link to view in EoL but one has
to sign up for access, the other was to view name sources which listed
several databases all invoking Achladaeus. Presumably they all got it (or
sequentially from one data base that did) from LepIndex and even though the
original mistake has apparently been corrected, the correction has not been
absorbed. Its almost like that the initial adoption of a databased name
goes out like a virus, but the subsequent correction is like
an inoculation that fails to overcome databse resistance. In a single
obscure case this might not matter, but if it happens over and over one
might wonder.

John Grehan

On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 5:06 PM, Stephen Thorpe <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz>
wrote:

> On the subject of Aenetus versus Achladaeus, and a further nice
> illustration of some of the nonsense being propagated through the web, it
> is hard to make any sense of this: http://www.
> biodiversitylibrary.org/name/Achladaeus_paradiseus_Tindale_1953
>
> Note that none of the bibliographical citations for this supposed 1953
> original combination are post 1900! The record seems to be derived by
> entropy(!) from Oenetus [sic] paradiseus Tindale, 1953 Trans. R. Soc. S.
> Aust. 76 : 77
>
> Stephen
>
> --------------------------------------------
> On Wed, 31/8/16, Ian Kitching <i.kitching at nhm.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>  Subject: [Taxacom] Aenetus versus Achladaeus
>  To: "'taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu'" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
>  Received: Wednesday, 31 August, 2016, 7:18 PM
>
>  Let's not beat about the bush and
>  call a spade a spade - what is being talked about here is
>  the NHMUK's LepIndex database, of which I am now the
>  "owner". LepIndex online was originally a project to make
>  the extensive card indexes of the NHMUK available online to
>  everyone because many people were coming to visit solely to
>  consult those indexes, rich as they were in unpublished data
>  added over the years by NHMUK staff. I will not defend the
>  decision taken years ago to then feed this database to
>  Species2000 and thence on to all and sundry, as it is
>  seriously embarrassing, but it happened. What also happened
>  was a contraction in funding and a refocussing of priorities
>  that meant updating and editing of this and many other
>  databases did not happen. Furthermore, being on the NHMUK
>  website and so within its firewall meant that no-one outside
>  could edit it. We did have a system for submission of
>  corrections but as staff left for various reasons this fell
>  into disuse.
>  Anyway, that is history. A few years ago Chris Lyal and I
>  obtained some funding to begin to look into updating
>  LepIndex and moving it to a more open, community-friendly
>  platform. With the help of Justin Ollerenshaw and Peter
>  Wing, supported by Data Manager Adrian Hine, we updated the
>  higher classification and as much of the species level
>  classification as we could before the money ran out. We were
>  then aiming to transfer LepIndex, merged with the Generic
>  Names database, to a Species File. This we still aim to do
>  but to the newer system being developed by that team, Taxon
>  Works. It was slow going as this was not an official NHMUK
>  digital project but we are getting there. The database will
>  be moved shortly (I hope). Once in Taxon Works, and once the
>  front end of that system has been worked out, we would be
>  looking for specialists to register to act as curators of
>  certain groups. At that point, they can begin to remove the
>  remaining issues.
>
>  And, yes, in the current offline version of LepIndex,
>  Aenetus is the valid name, as we updated that group from
>  Gaden Robinson's checklist and the Moths of Australia
>  Checklist.
>
>
>  "Just to bring the matter to conclusion, Tony's updating of
>  the Achladaeus
>
>  vs Aenetus problem in IRMING has recognized that the former
>  is a nomen
>
>  nudum. It is nice to see this quick response (thank you
>  Tony) but it does
>
>  point to the liability of databases that establish or
>  present names without
>
>  citation of published sources and clear explanation of the
>  authenticity of
>
>  the name. In this case I understand that the original
>  database with the
>
>  Achladaeus name was a database of card files in the
>  institution that then
>
>  got transitioned without appropriate oversight into a
>  public  taxonomic
>
>  names database and so a name that would otherwise never
>  caught attention
>
>  took off like a wildfire. No doubt the problem will persist
>  until that
>
>  institution applies the necessary resources to verify its
>  entries (or take
>  the database offline for the time being).2
>  ************************************************************
> *************************************************************************
>  Dr Ian J. Kitching, Research Entomologist, Department of
>  Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London
>  SW7 5BD, U.K.
>
>  Tel: (+44) (0)20 7942 5608 | Fax: (+44) (0)20 7942 5229 |
>  email: I.Kitching at nhm.ac.uk<mailto:I.Kitching at nhm.ac.uk>
>  Home page: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/staff-directory/
> entomology/i-kitching/index.html
>  Sphingidae Taxonomic Inventory: http://sphingidae.myspecies.info
>  Sphingidae of South-East Asia version 1.5: http://www.sphin-sea.unibas.
> ch<http://www.sphin-sea.unibas.ch/>
>  Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic: http://tpittaway.tripod.com/
> china/china.htm
>  ************************************************************
> *************************************************************************
>
>  _______________________________________________
>  Taxacom Mailing List
>  Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>  http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>  The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be searched at:
> http://taxacom.markmail.org
>
>  Injecting Intellectual Liquidity for 29 years.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom Mailing List
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be searched at:
> http://taxacom.markmail.org
>
> Injecting Intellectual Liquidity for 29 years.
>