I would like to know how to do a taxon split where one name was made inactive under another name but they should not be synonyms. The instructions are not clear on how to do this.
Do I make a new taxon with that name that is already in the system?
I would like to fix this taxon: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/471248-Erastia-salmonicolor
The name Sarcoporia polyspora needs to be split out separate from Erastia salmonicolor 471248
I have no idea or reference why they had been grouped together on iNaturalist.
It somewhat depends. Is this an actual synonym of the taxon? Or was it a true error? The synonym name appears to have been added to it automatically based on Catalogue of Life. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxon_names/1395664/edit
If it was just an error, you would delete the synonym name on the taxonomy tab of the taxon page and create a new taxon for it.
If it is a taxonomic issue, you’d create a new taxon for it, a new taxon for Erastia salmonicolor sensu stricto, and create a taxon split for E. salmonicolor sensu lato split into E. salmonicolor + Sarcoporia polyspora.
It seems like it was just an error. Juhakinnunen should know, I guess; they are a coauthor on both relevant publications regarding these species. Since there are only a few observations affected by this (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16587060, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26455721, and the one you cited), I would also add a comment on those observations telling them the name is available now.
Could someone explain this to me? I’m not a curator (or a botanist), and this is the first time I’ve had an observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/12282665 where people were making identifications for two different species that might be synonyms of each other. I’m just wondering whether the iNat taxonomy is right or wrong, and so I thought I would ask here instead of in a flag.
Yes, there are still many instances in the iNat taxonomy where two or more names are active for the same species. Curators just haven’t gotten around to resolving which one iNat should adopt and which one should be in synonymy. I would encourage you to flag one of the taxa for curation and explain the situation in the flag comments, so hopefully a curator can address and resolve the issue.