Ianthe Bovallius, 1881

Boyko, Christopher B., 2024, Taxonomic notes and nomenclatural corrections in Crustacea: Isopoda (exclusive of Oniscidea), Zootaxa 5497 (3), pp. 409-425 : 410-411

Ianthe Bovallius, 1881 not Tole Ortmann, 1901 [Janiroidea incertae sedis]

Remarks: Ianthe Bovallius, 1881 is the correct original name for this taxon but, although it has often been misspelled as Janthe (see below), that spelling does not occur in Bovallius (1881). Article 56.2 (ICZN, 1999) states that a single letter difference between two genus-group names avoids homonymy so Ianthe Bovallius, 1881 is not a homonym of either Janthe Marseul, 1866 ( Coleoptera , a junior synonym of Galbella Westwood, 1848 ) or Janthe Stål, 1867 ( Hemiptera , a junior homonym of Janthe Marseul, 1866 , replaced by Antianthe Fowler, 1896b ). Ianthe of Fowler (1896a) is a misspelling of Janthe Stål, 1867 .

The misspelling of Ianthe Bovallius, 1881 as “ Janthe ” appears to have originated with Studer (1884: 10) who used this spelling throughout the text. Because Janthe is clearly a misspelling, the name does not enter into homonymy of either Janthe Marseul, 1866 ( Coleoptera ) or Janthe Stål, 1867 ( Hemiptera ). The new species that Studer (1884) described in this genus, Janthe [sic] bovallii , is now the type species of Ianthopsis Beddard, 1886 , although Beddard (1886) repeatedly and incorrectly cited it as “ Ianthe bovallii ”, as if Studer (1884) had not made the spelling error.

Jolanthe Ortmann, 1900 was introduced as a replacement name for “ Janthe ” Bovallius, 1881, but, as pointed out above, Janthe is merely an incorrect subsequent spelling of Ianthe . Ortmann (1900) used the name five times in his paper but, curiously, never mentioned Jolanthe in any other subsequent paper.

Tole Ortmann, 1901 was introduced as an explicit replacement name for “ Janthe ” Bovallius, 1881. As noted above, Janthe is a misspelling of Ianthe Bovallius, 1881 and therefore does not enter into homonymy with either Janthe Marseul, 1866 ( Coleoptera ) or Janthe Stål, 1867 ( Hemiptera ). Ortmann (1901) cited his 1900 paper but inexplicably did not mention his earlier replacement name of Jolanthe Ortmann, 1900 . Tole is the name that has been generally and incorrectly used as the valid name for this genus (e.g., Wilson & Wägele, 1994, Brix et al., 2018, Lacasse et al., 2020). An argument could be made to suppress Ianthe in favor of Tole , but, as pointed out by Wilson & Wägele (1994) when recommending using strict priority to use Tole over Iolella , “corrections of commonly used generic names to little-used forms has been the rule in isopod taxonomy” and the same rationale is here used to give priority to Ianthe over Tole as the latter name is little cited and use of Ianthe does not threaten stability.

Richardson (1905) reported that she had received a letter from Ortmann stating that Tole Ortmann, 1901 was a typographical error for Iole . Because Iole was previously used as a genus in Coleoptera ( Iole Pascoe, 1858 ), she introduced the replacement name Iolella Richardson, 1905 . However, Richardson (1905) apparently did not notice that Pascoe (1858) included a note on p. 366 stating that his Iole was a junior homonym of Iole Blyth, 1845 ( Aves) and he therefore was replacing his Iole with Iolea . Regardless, as there is no indication of an error in Ortmann’s (1901) paper; in fact, the genus is spelled “ Tole ” three times in Ortmann (1901). As such, strictly following Article 32.5.1 which deals with situations when spellings can be corrected, Tole must be regarded as the correct name regarless of what Ortmann may have intended and Iole sensu Richardson is a misspelling and, as such, cannot be regarded as being in homonymy with either Iole Pascoe, 1858 or Iole Blyth, 1845 . Iolella is, therefore, an unnecessary replacement name for Tole Ortmann, 1901 .

Vanhöffen (1914) muddied the waters even further by incorrectly citing Tole as “ Jole ” and Iolella as “ Jolella.” He then proceeded to erect a new family “Jolellidae” based on the incorrect spelling of Iolellela. Miller (1941) appears to be the only author before Wilson et al. (1989) to correctly cite the family as Iolellidae. Wilson & Wägele (1994) considered Tole to be incertae sedis within Janiroidea but did not mention “Jolellidae” while Wilson et al. (1989) did mention “Jolellidae” and indicated that the name needed to be corrected to Iolellidae because the name was based on Iolella .

To summarize, Ianthe Bovallius, 1881 is the correct name for the genus usually cited as Tole Ortmann, 1901 . It is the type genus of Jolellidae Vanhöffen, 1914 (corrected to Iolellidae because Jolella is a misspelling of Iolella ) and is considered incertae sedis within Janiroidea (fide Wilson & Wägele, 1994). Although Iolella is a synonym of Ianthe , the spelling of the family name does not have to be changed even though it is the senior synonym (fide ICZN Article 40.1). For other issues involving the taxonomy of this genus, see Wilson & Wägele (1994).