Lonchura tristissima bigilalae Restall, 1995 (1 Viewer)

[Taphrospilus]

Lonchura tristissima bigilalae Restall, 1995 OD here

Etymology. I name this race after Iliah Bigilale, the curator of birds at the NMAG in Port Moresby, who was extremely helpful to me in my work with Lonchura during my visit to PNG, and who lent me the entire collection of Lonchura specimens for detailed study and making coloured paintings in air conditioned comfort.

The Eponym Dictionary of Birds claims:

Streak-headed Munia ssp. Lonchura tristissima bigilalae Restall, 1995 [Possibly a hybrid population]
Ilaiah Bigilale (fl.1995) is a Papuan vertebrate biologist and ornithologist, who is Curator of Birds, National Museum & Art Gallery, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

The Key to Scientific Names

Ilaiah Bigilale (fl. 1995) Papuan ornithologist, Curator of Birds National Mus. & Art Gallery, Port Moresby (syn. Mayrimunia tristissima calaminoros).

According this publication here Ilaiah Heula Bigilale. Again it might be advisable to be careful with his birth date.

He was also discussed on Bird Taxonomy and Nomenclature

He is "Iliah Bigilale" in the text (your link), but "Mr. Ilaiah Bigilale" in the acknowledgements on p. 156 v.115-116 (1995-1996) - Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. - Biodiversity Heritage Library, which seems to make him male.

The normal genitive ending of Latin words that end in -e in the nominative, is either -is (third-declension true Latin words -- mare, -is, the sea), or -es (first-declension words of Greek origin, originally ending in -η -- poecile, -es, a known Athenian portico). But these words are not masculine -- the Latin words like mare are neuter, the Greek ones like poecile are feminine --, thus treating Bigilale unmodified as a Latin word denoting a man is a bit problematic.

If this name was formed under 31.1.1, the author must be assumed to have set Bigilal- as the stem of the name, to which he added -ae instead of -i as instructed by the article; a masculine equivalent using the same stem would then be bigilali -- ie, a spelling that differs from both the emended spellings that are in use.
If formed under 31.1.2, the author may have latinized Bigilale into Bigilala, which, as a word, might be either masculine or feminine (or perhaps into a Greek-like Bigilales, which would be masculine); the grammatically correct genitive is then (in both cases) bigilalae, and no emendation should take place.

Why can't an author's choice be respected, if it's not clearly wrong ?