Enoclerus spinolae ( LeConte 1853 )

Barr, William F. & Rifkind, Jacques, 2009, Two new and one resurrected species of Enoclerus Gahan (Coleoptera: Cleridae: Clerinae) from the western United States, Zootaxa 2168, pp. 57-62 : 58

Enoclerus spinolae ( LeConte 1853) , resurrected specific status

Enoclerus spinolae ( LeConte 1853: 230) .

This species, broadly distributed in the U.S. Southwest and extending into northern Mexico, was synonomyzed by Wolcott (1947: 78) under E. abdominalis ( Chevrolat 1835: 52) , a name that Barr (1976: 30) subsequently showed to be an invalid junior homonym. Barr (ibid.) established E. zonatus ( Klug 1842: 297) as a replacement name, and treated E. spinolae as its junior synonym. Examination of the types of E. abdominalis , E. zonatus and E. spinolae , and dozens of specimens from a variety of locations, has led us to conclude that E. spinolae is a good species, separable from its species-group congeners based on its pattern of elytral markings and geographical distribution. The epithet spinolae , because it appeared to authors to represent a mistaken use of a feminine gender ending for a masculine patronymic, has been rendered in the literature most frequently as spinolai (or " spinolae (sic!)." However, as the ICZN makes clear in Article 31.1.1, a specific epithet may be formed from someone's name (irrespective of their gender) by accepting it as a Latin name, and then treating it in accordance with the rules of Latin grammar. This, it seems clear, is exactly what LeConte did when constructing his patronymic honoring entomologist Massimiliano Spinola. In any case, the ICZN states explicitly that incorrect latinization (Article 32.5.1) is not to be considered an "inadvertent error," and cannot be used to justify an exception to the rule of preservation of correct original spelling (Article 32.3). In short, LeConte's spelling must stand.