Hi @alberto_colatore,

Would you explain to us what changes you are making to iNat's Nepticuloidea taxonomy and why you are making them? Many taxa you have recently changed appear to have been correct before the change and incorrect afterward. I'd like to ask you to pause any more changes until a discussion here can proceed. A few of us have already worked out the taxonomy in this part of iNat's taxonomy. If you have new info about it, I'd like to know about it.

What taxonomic authority are you basing your changes on? You aren't listing these in your taxon swaps, as curators are supposed to do. If you explained this somewhere, I just haven't found it.

For moths, we're supposed to use BugGuide's taxonomic authorities. For Nepticuloidea, this is the van Nieukerken et al. (2016) world catalog of Nepticuloidea, which includes many species groups and species complexes, plus some more recent updates from the literature.

You changed a lot of species group taxa from Section rank to Complex rank. But species groups often contain species complexes, so species groups cannot be entered at Complex rank, because the species complexes use that rank. The best rank for the species groups is Section rank, which is why they were already entered at Section rank. This is the convention across much of the iNat Insect taxonomy, especially in Lepidoptera. I think the species groups need to be restored to Section rank.

You eliminated some species complex taxa, even though they are valid and are well defined in the worldwide catalog and the literature. I didn't find any explanation in your changes about why these were removed. I think they should be restored.

Please give us a summary of what you are changing and why before you continue with more changes.

Thanks,
Tim

Including a few others who have helped with iNat's Nepticuloidea taxonomy: @ceiseman @erikvannieukerken