Taxacom: Hepialidae vs Epialidae

[Francisco Welter-Schultes]

Burmeister proposed to emend the spelling to Epialidae in 1878. This was 
never adopted.
It was probably not because Burmeister was wrong, but because Hepialidae 
had been used by many authors since 1829, and taxonomists did not like 
to change it and start using a different spelling, so that the name 
would suddenly be found at a different place in an alphabetical list. In 
this epoch several hundred thousand animal names had been established 
and there were probably too many names where spellings were disputed, 
and where scientists had proposed more than one way of converting Greek 
names into Latin names.

There was no Code at that time, but more or less commonly accepted rules 
which were later converted into written international rules. This 
international level was reached in 1905. These rules proved to be 
useful, and this might explain why 144 years later such a question can 
be answered by a clear and concise statement:

"Incorrect transliterations, transcriptions, translations or
latinizations are not to be corrected".
(Based on ICZN Code, Art. 32.5.1)

Best wishes
Francisco

Am 28.02.2022 um 06:05 schrieb John Grehan via Taxacom:
> The term 'Epialidae' was never adopted. Was this because Burmeister was
> wrong, or because of some overriding clause in the Code? I would be
> grateful for any enlightenment as I am as dead as a doornail when it comes
> to such matters.