On the nomenclatural status of type genera in Coleoptera (Insecta)

Recent technological advances have improved our ability to study the higher classification of insects at a scale not possible previously. A wealth of new morphological and molecular data continue to be incorporated in ever larger phylogenetic studies that test previously-established classifications. Clades that emerge from these studies are named using family-group names that are nomenclaturally available, while others are described as new. The inclusion of representatives of type genera (and preferably their type species) as terminal taxa in phylogenetic analyses will ensure that clades that comprise available family-group names are named correctly and not described as new unnecessarily.

More than 4000 family-group names are nomenclaturally available in the diverse order Coleoptera. Since each family-group name is based on the concept of their type genus, as determined by their type species, we argue that the stability of the classification of beetles depends on sound nomenclatural data for each type genus. Following a review of taxonomic literature and of potential sources of type species designations (focussing on the first half of the 19th Century), we provide a synthesis of nomenclatural data associated with the type genus of each of the nomenclaturally available family-group names in Coleoptera. Because of the importance of the Principle of Priority in zoological nomenclature, we also provide information on the date of publication of the references cited in this work, when known.