Gebruiker:Wikiklaas/Lycaena
Recently I asked for the deletion of a few articles that falsely claimed to treat a species of the butterfly genus Lycaena while in fact the name of that "species" did not exist, so there also was no species to be treated in the article, and the whole page was no more than a pack of disinformation. As a reason I mentioned that the names were "ghost names": names that do not really exist but turn up in databases, in this case in LepIndex, the Lepidoptera database of the Natural History Museum in London. The request was at first denied because no one seemed to realize how serious a problem it is when Wikipedia offers articles with fantasy names as if they are about real and accepted species. One wanted some more discussion.
I would not have interfered with the Swedish Wikipedia if not one of the consequences of having these fake articles were that corresponding Wikidata items are created, and hence Wikipedia becomes instrumental in the proliferation of fake facts. This is no longer a local problem.
On the Dutch Wikipedia, we have more or less the same problem: large amounts of articles created by bots, based on utterly unreliable databases like ITIS, Encyclopedia of Life or LepIndex. They may at some point all have had the ultimate goal of giving an overview of existing and accepted taxa, but they ended up being collections of ever published names, no matter whether they are accepted, valid, or even available names or not. The Dutch article on Lycaena was created 14 September 2014 as a collection of names of articles created by Joopwikibot on 31 March 2013, completely based on LepIndex. Out of the over 600 combinations in Lycaena listed in LepIndex, Joopwikibot took every name not listed as "unavailable", and created an article as if it were the accepted name of an existing species. Out of the 319 pages thus created, only 71 appeared to represent a real and accepted species in Lycaena; the vast majority appeared to be names of species no longer placed in Lycaena (76), names of subspecies (46), names now synonymized with other names (61), or names that had never even been published, but turned up in databases (63). In 2015 I sorted out Lycaena, but the problem of course exists in every other larger genus taken from LepIndex.
Because I already sorted out Lycaena, I gathered it would be efficient to use the outcomes and clean up the articles on Lycaena in other language versions where pages had also been created using LepIndex. First thing to do, so it seemed to me, was to delete the articles carrying non-existing names. As an example: Lycaena aegera (see the record in NHM). The name is listed in NHM as "Lycaena aegera Grose-Smith". No place and date of publication, nor anything on the status of the taxon when published. The "name" also turns up in EoL, in Animal Diversity Web and in ITIS, and in several websites that just copy their information from one of those I mentioned. And in all cases it is just the name and the author, nothing more. That's a ghost name: it pops up somewhere and gets stupidly copied from one database to another. It doesn't make any sense to create an article on a "species" if even the most basic information about it is unknown, not even if the name was ever validly published. An article on Lycaena aegera should only be created if it is with some certainty an accepted species by at least some taxonomists. If it is impossible to verify the name and status, an article bearing that name, based on nothing more than a meaningless name in a database, is disinformation. It is noice, not knowledge. It is the responsibility of the creater of articles in Wikipedia to check whether a name in a database can be reliably accepted as the name of a true taxon. Every flag set on "aegera" however, points in the direction of a non-existing name. The article should never have been created.
After the denial to delete the articles, I had a closer look at the Lycanea article in the Swedish Wikipedia, and I found the problem to be even more serious. I found it to list 608 names of species. That's about twice the amount in the original Dutch article. It turned out that the creator, Lsjbot, used every name listed as a combination in Lycaena in LepIndex, also the names listed as unavailable.
An "unavailable name" is literally what it says: it is unavailbale as the name for a species or a subspecies. Why on earth then did Lsjbot create about 300 articles in Lycaena alone, pretending they treated a species when the name was marked as unavailable and could in no way be applied to a species? There are no species bearing those scientific names! In order to be available, a name must not only be published, but it has to meet te criteria for publication as set out in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. A nomen nudum for example, is not an available name. A name published for an infrasubspecific taxon (a taxon below the rank of subspecies, for example a variety, a forma, an aberration, a morph) is not an available name, unless published as a "variety" or a "forma" before 1961 AND accepted as a name at (sub)specific rank before 1985. As an example Lycaena aestivaecaudata, published by Verity in 1943 as the name of a forma of Lycaena phlaeas, but never accepted as a name at subspecific let alone specific rank. Still, this Wikipedia offers an article pretending "Lycaena aestivaecaudata" is an accepted species of Lycaena. Bullshit! The Swedish Wikipedia is of course not the only Wikipedia containing such nonsense. My home Wikipedia is just as bad. But if someone signals the problem, and asks to delete the meaningless page, the article should promptly be removed. I hope Lsjbot will be able to at least do a botrun to find every page that was based on a name listed as "unavailable" in LepIndex, and mark it for speedy deletion.
In order to show the extent of the problem, I add here a list of all the specific names beginning with an "a" in the article Lycaena. Out of an original 75 pages, only 4 concerned accepted species in Lycaena. Two other accepted specific names starting with an "a" exist, but were missing from this list. I marked those 6 pages with a green accepted name. Of the remainder, 35 should be deleted right away because they are unavailable names or even ghost names. Those are marked spelling error, ghost name or not an available name.
- Lycaena abbottii (Holland, 1892), now accepted as a subspecies of Lycaena phlaeas.
- Lycaena achaja Behr, 1867, NHM-card, spelling error (database anomaly) for Lycaena aehaja Behr, 1867, NHM-card and see here, bottom of the page for the original spelling. In this Wikipedia the name is represented as Plebejus aehaja, but it has in fact been synonymized with Icaricia saepiolus (Boisduval, 1852), in this Wikipedia as Plebejus saepiolus.
- Lycaena acmon Boisduval, NHM-card. The taxon was cited only once, bottom of the page, with the wrong author. As Lycaena acmon Westwood, 1851, it is the protonym of Icaricia acmon, in this Wikipedia as Plebejus acmon. I already changed the article into a redirect to that page.
- Lycaena addenda Williams, 1911; not an available name, NHM-card, published for an infrasubspecific taxon, never even intended as a species, see here, bottom of the page for the original publication as a forma.
- Lycaena aditya (Moore, 1875) – accepted name.
- Lycaena aedon Christoph, 1877, protonym of Polyommatus aedon, in this Wikipedia as Agrodiaetus aedon, so two articles on one taxon. I already changed this article into a redirect to the better accepted name.
- Lycaena aegagrus Christoph, 1873, protonym of Agriades aegagrus (article should be renamed and removed from the list in Lycaena).
- Lycaena aegera Grose-Smith, NHM-card: ghost name: no details known on place and date of publication or the status of the name when published.
- Lycaena aegestis Hübner, NHM-card: ghost name.
- Lycaena aegina Grum-Grshimailo, 1891, now accepted as a subspecies of Plebejus calliopis, in this Wikipedia as Lycaena calliopis.
- Lycaena aeolus Wyatt, 1961 – accepted name.
- Lycaena aestiva (Turati & Krüger, 1936), now accepted as a subspecies of Lycaena phlaeas.
- Lycaena aestivaecaudata Verity, 1943; not an available name, NHM-card (correct spelling is "aestiva-ecaudata"), published as the name of a forma of Lycaena phlaeas.
- Lycaena aestivus Zeller, 1847; not an available name, NHM-card, published as a forma of Lycaena phlaeas (see here, top left of the page), but if the context is neglected, one could even take it as the name of a subspecies. It was however never intended nor used as the name of a species.
- Lycaena aetnaea Zeller, 1847; not an available name, NHM-card. Zeller considered Polyommatus a subgenus of Lycaena, and published this name as a variety of Lycaena (Polyommatus) acis. The name is now identified as a typical form of Cyaniris semiargus, in this Wikipedia also as Lycaena semiargus, two articles on one taxon once more.
- Lycaena afra Edwards, 1884, now accepted as a subspecies of Glaucopsyche lygdamus.
- Lycaena aihona Matsumura, 1949; not an available name, NHM-card, published as a forma of Lycaena euphemus ["euphemia"], now synonymized with Maculinea teleius.
- Lycaena alaina Staudinger, 1887, now accepted as Cupido alaina.
- Lycaena alba Tutt, 1906; not an available name, NHM-card, published as a forma of Rumicia phlaeas (= Lycaena phlaeas), see here. Never intended nor used as the name of a species.
- Lycaena albacaudata Tutt, 1906; not an available name, NHM-card, published as the name of a forma of Lycaena phlaeas, never intended nor used as the name of a species.
- Lycaena albicans Fuchs, 1889 (should be 1884); not an available name, NHM-card, see here for the original name, published as the name of an aberration of Polyommatus phlaeas (= Lycaena phlaeas), never intended nor used as the name of a species.
- Lycaena albidoflava Bayer, 1924; not an available name, NHM-card, published as the name of an aberration of Chrysophanus dispar rutilus. Now synonymized with the typical form of the species (Lycaena dispar).
- Lycaena albipicta Vorbrodt, 1917, NHM-card: ghost name.
- Lycaena albipuncta Lawb., 1908, NHM-card: ghost name.
- Lycaena albocellata Gillmer, 1904; not an available name, NHM-card, published as an aberration of Lycaena rustica, the latter one now considered a subspecies of Agriades glandon.
- Lycaena albopunctata Huene, 1901; not an available name, NHM-card, published as an aberration of Polyommatus virgaureae var. estonica (= Lycaena virgaureae), never intended nor used as the name of a species.
- Lycaena alciphron (Rottemburg, 1775) – accepted name.
- Lycaena alexandra Püngeler, 1901, NHM-card, published as a variety of Chrysophanus athamantis (= Athamanthia athamantis, here as Lycaena athamantis), now accepted as Athamanthia alexandra.
- Lycaena allardi Oberthür, 1874, spelling error for Lycaena allardii, now accepted as Plebejus allardii
- Lycaena alpium Verity, 1926; not an available name, NHM-card, published for a race of Polyommatus meleager (= Polyommatus daphnis), never intended nor used for the name of a species.
- Lycaena alpiumclara Verity, 1926; not an available name, NHM-card, published for a race of Polyommatus meleager (= Polyommatus daphnis), never intended nor used for the name of a species.
- Lycaena altuiana Tutt, NHM-card: ghost name.
- Lycaena amdoensis Wnukowsky, 1929, NHM-card, published as Lycaena eroides amdoensis, nomen novum for Lycaena myrrha helena Grum-Grshimailo, 1891, now considered a subspecies of Polyommatus eros.
- Lycaena americana D'Urban, 1857, NHM-card, published as Chrysophanus americana (see here), now considered a synonym of Lycaena phlaeas subsp. hypophlaeas.
- Lycaena amphyssina Staudinger, 1889, accepted as a subspecies of Jamides philatus, in this Wikipedia as Lampides philatus.
- Lycaena anamariae Gómez Bustillo, 1973, NHM-card, published as the name of a subspecies of Lampides boeticus, was never even combined with Lycaena.
- Lycaena andicola Godman & Salvin, 1891, protonym of Leptotes andicola.
- Lycaena angustimargo Courvoisier, 1903; not an available name, NHM-card, published as the name of a forma of Lycaena phlaeas, never intended nor used as the name of a species.
- Lycaena annetta Edwards, 1882, accepted as a subspecies of Plebejus melissa, in this Wikipedia as Lycaeides melissa.
- Lycaena antenigrescens Lempke, 1954; not an available name, NHM-card, published as the name of a forma of Lycaena dispar.
- Lycaena anteroalba Tutt, 1906; not an available name, NHM-card, published as the name of a forma of Lycaena phlaeas, never intended nor used as the name of a species.
- Lycaena anthracina spelling error for Lycaena anthracias, protonym of Praephilotes anthracias.
- Lycaena antibasijuncta Leeds, 1941; not an available name, NHM-card, published as the name of an aberration of Lycaena phlaeas.
- Lycaena antinigrescens Lempke, 1954; not an available name, NHM-card, published as the name of a forma of Lycaena dispar.
- Lycaena apennina Calberla, 1887, NHM-card, published as the name of a variety of Lycaena virgaureae, now accepted as a subspecies of the latter.
- Lycaena apicalisjuncta Leeds, 1941; not an available name, NHM-card, published as the name of an aberration of Lycaena phlaeas.
- Lycaena apicepunctata Huene, 1907; not an available name, NHM-card, published as the name of an aberration of Lycaena phlaeas.
- Lycaena araraticus Gerhard, 1853, NHM-card, published as the name of a variety of Lycaena orbitulus; Gerhards name is now synonymized with Agriades dardanus.
- Lycaena arcana Leech, 1890, protonym of Tongeia arcana
- Lycaena arcas (Fabricius, 1787), published as Papilio arcas, junior homonym of Papilio arcas Drury, 1773. Fabricius's name is synonymized with Lycaena orus.
- Lycaena arcus Rott. NHM-card: ghost name. Most likely a spelling error for Lycaena arcas (Rottemburg, 1775), published as Papilio arcas, junior homonym of Papilio arcas Drury, 1773. Rottemburgs name is now synonymized with Maculinea nausithous.
- Lycaena ardates Moore, 1874, now accepted as a subspecies of Prosotas nora.
- Lycaena ardschira Brandt, 1938, protonym of Polyommatus ardschira
- Lycaena arethusa (Wiley-Dod, 1907), now accepted as a subspecies of Lycaena phlaeas
- Lycaena argentata Hartig, 1924; not an available name, NHM-card, published as the name of a forma of Lycaena meleager (= Polyommatus daphnis), never intended nor used for the name of a species.
- Lycaena argentina Prittwitz, 1867, published as a name in Acrophthalmia (see here), erroneously cited as a name in Lycaena by Buttler in 1874.
- Lycaena argola Hewitson, 1876, protonym of Caleta argola.
- Lycaena aricia Grum-Grshimailo, 1902, status unclear: a name in Cupido?
- Lycaena arionides Staudinger, 1887, protonym of Maculinea arionides
- Lycaena arionidula Kardakov, 1928; not an available name, NHM-card, published as the name of an aberration of Lycaena arionides.
- Lycaena arota (Boisduval, 1852), accepted name, missing from this list.
- Lycaena artemenes Plötz, 1880, protonym of Uranothauma artemenes, so two articles on the same taxon once more.
- Lycaena arthurus Melvill, 1873, synonymized with Maculinea arion
- Lycaena asabinus (Herrich-Schäffer, 1851) – accepted name.
- Lycaena asamensis Matsumura, 1929, synonymized with Plebejus yagina
- Lycaena ashretha Evans, 1925, NHM-card, published as the name of a subspecies of Lycaena iris (= Afarsia neoiris), now accepted as Afarsia ashretha.
- Lycaena aster Edwards, 1882, now accepted as a subspecies of Plebejus idas
- Lycaena athamantis (Eversmann, 1854), now accepted as Athamanthia athamantis
- Lycaena atra Grum-Grshimailo, 1885, now accepted as a subspecies of Polyommatus semiargus
- Lycaena attenuata Lucas, 1890, now accepted as a subspecies of Zizula hylax
- Lycaena attila (Zhdanko, 1990), accepted name, missing from this list.
- Lycaena aucta Stauder, 1923; not an available name, NHM-card, published as the name of a forma of Lycaena meleager (= Polyommatus daphnis), see here, p. 7.
- Lycaena aurata Hirschke, 1910; not an available name, NHM-card, published as an aberration of Lycaena dispar.
- Lycaena aurcomicaus (Heyne, 1897), NHM-card, spelling error (database anomaly) for aureomicans, published as a variety of Polyommatus virgaureae (= Lycaena virgaureae), now accepted as a subspecies of the latter.
- Lycaena auronitens Schultz, 1905; not an available name, NHM-card, published as an aberration of Chrysophanes phlaeas (= Lycaena phlaeas), see here.
- Lycaena auroradiata Bright & Leeds, 1938; not an available name, NHM-card, published as an aberration of Lycaena phlaeas.
- Lycaena azurea Silbernagel, 1946; not an available name, NHM-card, published as an aberration of Lycaena cyllarus, the latter now synonymized with Glaucopsyche melanops.