It recently was suggested that family-group names derived from the names of Selys’ legions are not valid. I state why I believe this view is mistaken and I argue that, even if it were not, nomenclatural stability in Odonata can be better served by the preservation of these names than by their overturn.
The author’s previous rejection of Selys’ legions as available family-group taxa is restated and elaborated, strictly based on the provisions of the International Rules of Zoological Nomenclature (4th ed.).
Litheuphaea ludwigi sp. n. is described as first representative of Epallagidae from Baltic amber. The holotype of Litheuphaea carpenteri Fraser, 1955 is redescribed, the phylogenetic position of all fossil Epallagidae is discussed, and a new phylogenetic classification is proposed. The authorship of Selys (1853) for the family-group name Euphaeidae is rejected, since the “légion Euphaea”…