Who authored Gyrodactylidae? Resolving the authorship of a widely used monogenoidean family-group under article 11.7.2 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.

Authorship of the nominal family Gyrodactylidae has been inconsistently cited for more than a century, being generally attributed either to van Beneden & Hesse (1863) or to Cobbold (1864). We evaluated the competing attributions under Article 11.7.2 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. This provision allows a pre-1900 family-group name published in non-latinized form to retain its original authorship if it was later latinized and has been generally accepted as valid and as dating from the first publication in vernacular form. Van Beneden & Hesse (1863) originally established the taxon under the French vernacular Gyrodactylidés. Shortly thereafter, Cobbold (1864) published the latinized form Gyrodactylidae. Review of the historical literature demonstrated persistent attribution to van Beneden & Hesse (1863) across a broad range of taxonomic traditions and geographic regions, even while attribution to Cobbold (1864) has also continued. The conditions of Article 11.7.2 are satisfied, and the nominal family of the family-group should be cited as Gyrodactylidae Van Beneden & Hesse, 1863. This clarification resolves a long-standing nomenclatural inconsistency that persists in both the primary literature and major taxonomic databases.