Troubles with supertabular

Question

For my personal documentation, I have been using latex for a long time but as usual, I encounter difficulties with tables.

I mainly adopted supertabular because I can easily adapt the management of multiple columns or rows as well as colorization even if the table exceeds the height of a page. This time, I found myself with a problem that I was unable to correct, namely the fact that the content of a column (multirow) is found after the bottom of the table when changing pages.

I think I'm probably making a mistake somewhere, but I can't figure out where. Below you will find what I am trying to do and where the following errors appear:

• the text in the left column is located below the table;
• the text is not aligned to the left in the 2nd column despite the \raggedright command for this column;

I think these are probably errors on my part but I have just spent 48 hours with tex.stackexchange.com in particular but without finding anything conclusive.

Do you have a clue to give me?

(I read the documentation "https://tug.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/supertabular/supertabular.pdf" but I don't understand where to use the options indicated pageshow and debugshow).

(I can send the resulting pdf of the compilation. I use TexStudio with Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) )

Here is an extract of my code :

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[width=21.00cm, height=29.70cm, left=2.00cm, right=2.00cm, top=2.00cm, bottom=2.00cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0pt}
\setlength{\headsep}{0pt}

\setlength{\textheight}{740pt}
\setlength{\textwidth}{460pt}
\setlength{\marginparsep}{0pt}
\setlength{\marginparwidth}{0pt}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{xcolor,colortbl}
\usepackage{supertabular}
\usepackage[margin=10pt,font=small,textfont=it,labelformat=simple]{caption}
\captionsetup{labelformat=empty, justification=centering}
\begin{document}
\subsection*{Espèces}
    Il existe encore de nombreuses divergences quand il s'agit de rentrer dans le détail des nomenclatures et notamment dans le classement des genres au sein des familles. Le tableau 2 ci-après présente la sous-classe Octocorallia  donne un aperçu non exhaustif des genres concernés.
\newenvironment{changemargin}[2]{%
\begin{list}{}{%
    \setlength{\topsep}{0pt}%
    \setlength{\leftmargin}{#1}%
    \setlength{\rightmargin}{#2}%
    \setlength{\listparindent}{\parindent}%
    \setlength{\itemindent}{\parindent}%
    \setlength{\parsep}{\parskip}%
    }%
\item[]}{\end{list}}
\begin{changemargin}{-1.5cm}{0.5cm}
\begin{center}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.5}
\tablefirsthead{%
    \hline
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Ordre} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Sous-ordre} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Famille} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Spécimen} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|l|}{Genre} \
    \hline
    }
\tablehead{%
    \hline
%   \multicolumn{5}{l}{\small \textsl{$\dots$ suite du tableau}}\
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Ordre} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Sous-ordre} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Famille} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Spécimen} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|l|}{Genre} \
    \hline
    }
\tabletail{%
    \hline
    \multicolumn{5}{r}{\small\textsl{Suite page suivante$\dots$}} \
    }
\tablelasttail{\hline}
\bottomcaption{Classement des genres appartenant à la sous-classe Octocorallia \\selon WoRMS (07/2014)}


%\begin{table}[H]
    \definecolor{vertf}{RGB}{000,255,000}
    \definecolor{vertc}{RGB}{139,255,139}
    \definecolor{grisf}{RGB}{209,209,209}
    \definecolor{grisc}{RGB}{229,229,229}
    \definecolor{rosef}{RGB}{255,191,191}
    \definecolor{rosec}{RGB}{255,218,218}
\begin{supertabular}{|
    >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}m{0.15\linewidth}|
    >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}m{0.15\linewidth}|
    >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}m{0.15\linewidth}|
    >{            \arraybackslash}m{0.20\linewidth}|
    >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}m{0.30\linewidth}|
    }
\hline
\multirow{19}{=}{
    \cellcolor{rosec} Alcyona-cea (Alcyonaires) } &
\multirow{5}{=}{
    \cellcolor{vertc} Alcyoniina (Alcyoninés) }  &
    \cellcolor{grisc} Alcyonidae (Alcyonidés) &
    \cellcolor{grisc} \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {sarcophyton-2.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisc}
        \vspace{0.5em}
         Acrophytum, Alcyonium, Aldersladum, Anthomastus, Bellonella, Cladiella, Dampia, Dimorphophyton, Discophyton, Drifa, Elbeenus, Eleutherobia, Heteropolypus Inflatocalyx, Klyxum, Lampophyton, Lanthanocephalus, Litophyton, Lobophytum, Lobularia, Lohowia, Malacacanthus, Minabea, Notodysiferus, Paraminabea, Parerythropodium, Protodendron, Pseudoanthomastus, Rhytisma, \textbf{Sarcophyton}, Sinularia, Skamnarium, Sphaeralcyon, Thrombophyton, Verseveldtia \
\cline{3-5}
    \cellcolor{rosec} &
    \cellcolor{vertc} &
    \cellcolor{grisf} Nephtheidae\newline(Nephteidés) &
    \cellcolor{grisf}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {umbellulifera.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisf}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \hbox{Umbellulifera (specimen),} Capnella, Chondronephthya, Chromonephthea, Coronephthya, Dendronephthya, Gersemi, Lemnalia, Leptophyton, Neospongodes, Nephthea, Pacifiphyton, Paralemnalia, Pseudodrifa, Scleronephthya, Stereonephthya \
\cline{3-5}
    \cellcolor{rosec} &
    \cellcolor{vertc} &
    \cellcolor{grisc} Nidaliidae\newline(Nidaliidés) &
    \cellcolor{grisc}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {chironephthya.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisc} \hbox{Chironephthya (specimen),} Agaricoides, Nephthyigorgia, Nidalia, Nidaliopsis, Orlikia, Pieterfaurea, Siphonogorgia \
\cline{3-5}
    \cellcolor{rosec} &
    \cellcolor{vertc} &
    \cellcolor{grisf} Paralcyoniidae (Paralcyoniidés) &
    \cellcolor{grisf}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {maasella.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisf} Maasella (specimen) \
\cline{3-5}
    \cellcolor{rosec} &
    \cellcolor{vertc} &
    \cellcolor{grisc} Xeniidae (Xéniidés) &
    \cellcolor{grisc}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {xenia.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisc} \hbox{Xenia (specimen),} Anthelia, Asterospicularia, Cespitularia, Funginus, Efflatounaria, Heteroxenia, Sympodium, Sansibia \
\hline
\multirow{3}{=}{
    \cellcolor{rosec} Pennatulacea (Pennatules) } &
    \cellcolor{vertc} Sessiliflorae &
    \cellcolor{grisc} Umbellulidae, Vertillidae, Protoptilidae $\dots$ &
    \cellcolor{grisc}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {cavernularia.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisc} Umbellula, \hbox{Cavernularia (specimen),} Cavernulina, Veretillum, Distichoptilum, Protoptilum $\dots$   \
\cline{2-5}
    \cellcolor{rosec} &
    \cellcolor{vertf} Subsessili-florae &
    \cellcolor{grisf} Halipteridae Pennatulidae Virgulariidae &
    \cellcolor{grisf}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {virgularia.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisf} Halipteris, Crassophyllum, Pennatulata $\dots$ Acanthoptilum, \hbox{Virgularia (Specimen)} \
\hline
\end{supertabular}
\end{center}
\end{changemargin}
Retour des marges à la normale. Il existe encore de nombreuses divergences quand il s'agit de rentrer dans le détail des nomenclatures et notamment dans le classement des genres au sein des familles.


\end{document}

Answer 1

The problem with the column text below the column is because of using \multirow inside a supertabular or longtable. It is a known issue. See, e.g., “Vertical long text in a multirow” or “table breaks spanning multiple pages”. Page breaks inside \multirow is not supported. So the only thing, you can do: manually break it. In your case, you can change the row argument of \multirow to place the text inside the table part of the first page. This is what I do in my example below. But if you like, you can also add one more \multirow in a row after the page break to show the text again on the next page. In this case, I would also reduce the row number of the first \multirow.

Your second problem with the alignment is, because you've added unwanted white spaces before and after \cellcolor{…}. In the example below, I've commented the end of line before \cellcolor{…} and removed the space after \cellcolor{…} to avoid these spaces.

Additionally I've changed the usage of one rodec to rosef to make the semantic edge clear. But you can revert it, if you do not like it.

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}% should not be needed since LaTeX 2018-04-01
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[width=21.00cm, height=29.70cm, left=2.00cm, right=2.00cm, top=2.00cm, bottom=2.00cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0pt}% I'd recommend to use geometry to
\setlength{\headsep}{0pt}      % change the page layout. It is much
\setlength{\textheight}{740pt} % easier to handle.
\setlength{\textwidth}{460pt}
\setlength{\marginparsep}{0pt}
\setlength{\marginparwidth}{0pt}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{xcolor,colortbl}
\usepackage{supertabular}
\usepackage[margin=10pt,font=small,textfont=it,labelformat=simple]{caption}
\captionsetup{labelformat=empty, justification=centering}
\begin{document}
\subsection*{Espèces}
    Il existe encore de nombreuses divergences quand il s'agit de rentrer dans le détail des nomenclatures et notamment dans le classement des genres au sein des familles. Le tableau 2 ci-après présente la sous-classe Octocorallia  donne un aperçu non exhaustif des genres concernés.
\newenvironment{changemargin}[2]{%
\begin{list}{}{%
    \setlength{\topsep}{0pt}%
    \setlength{\leftmargin}{#1}%
    \setlength{\rightmargin}{#2}%
    \setlength{\listparindent}{\parindent}%
    \setlength{\itemindent}{\parindent}%
    \setlength{\parsep}{\parskip}%
    }%
\item[]}{\end{list}}
\begin{changemargin}{-1.5cm}{0.5cm}
\begin{center}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.5}
\tablefirsthead{%
    \hline
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Ordre} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Sous-ordre} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Famille} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Spécimen} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|l|}{Genre} \
    \hline
    }
\tablehead{%
    \hline
%   \multicolumn{5}{l}{\small \textsl{$\dots$ suite du tableau}}\
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Ordre} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Sous-ordre} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Famille} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|c}{Spécimen} &
    \multicolumn{1}{|l|}{Genre} \
    \hline
    }
\tabletail{%
    \hline
    \multicolumn{5}{r}{\small\textsl{Suite page suivante$\dots$}} \
    }
\tablelasttail{\hline}
\bottomcaption{Classement des genres appartenant à la sous-classe Octocorallia \\selon WoRMS (07/2014)}


%\begin{table}[H]
    \definecolor{vertf}{RGB}{000,255,000}
    \definecolor{vertc}{RGB}{139,255,139}
    \definecolor{grisf}{RGB}{209,209,209}
    \definecolor{grisc}{RGB}{229,229,229}
    \definecolor{rosef}{RGB}{255,191,191}
    \definecolor{rosec}{RGB}{255,218,218}
\begin{supertabular}{|
    >{\raggedright}m{0.15\linewidth}|
    >{\raggedright}m{0.15\linewidth}|
    >{\raggedright}m{0.15\linewidth}|
    m{0.20\linewidth}|
    >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}m{0.30\linewidth}|
    }
\hline
\multirow{14}{=}{\cellcolor{rosec}Alcyona-cea (Alcyonaires)} &
\multirow{5}{=}{%
    \cellcolor{vertc}Alcyoniina (Alcyoninés) }  &
    \cellcolor{grisc}Alcyonidae (Alcyonidés) &
    \cellcolor{grisc}\includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {sarcophyton-2.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisc}
        \vspace{0.5em}
         Acrophytum, Alcyonium, Aldersladum, Anthomastus, Bellonella, Cladiella, Dampia, Dimorphophyton, Discophyton, Drifa, Elbeenus, Eleutherobia, Heteropolypus Inflatocalyx, Klyxum, Lampophyton, Lanthanocephalus, Litophyton, Lobophytum, Lobularia, Lohowia, Malacacanthus, Minabea, Notodysiferus, Paraminabea, Parerythropodium, Protodendron, Pseudoanthomastus, Rhytisma, \textbf{Sarcophyton}, Sinularia, Skamnarium, Sphaeralcyon, Thrombophyton, Verseveldtia \
\cline{3-5}
    \cellcolor{rosec}&
    \cellcolor{vertc}&
    \cellcolor{grisf}Nephtheidae\newline(Nephteidés) &
    \cellcolor{grisf}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {umbellulifera.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisf}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \hbox{Umbellulifera (specimen),} Capnella, Chondronephthya, Chromonephthea, Coronephthya, Dendronephthya, Gersemi, Lemnalia, Leptophyton, Neospongodes, Nephthea, Pacifiphyton, Paralemnalia, Pseudodrifa, Scleronephthya, Stereonephthya \
\cline{3-5}
    \cellcolor{rosec}&
    \cellcolor{vertc}&
    \cellcolor{grisc}Nidaliidae\newline(Nidaliidés) &
    \cellcolor{grisc}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {chironephthya.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisc}\hbox{Chironephthya (specimen),} Agaricoides, Nephthyigorgia, Nidalia, Nidaliopsis, Orlikia, Pieterfaurea, Siphonogorgia \
\cline{3-5}
    \cellcolor{rosec}&
    \cellcolor{vertc}&
    \cellcolor{grisf}Paralcyoniidae (Paralcyoniidés) &
    \cellcolor{grisf}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {maasella.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisf}Maasella (specimen) \
\cline{3-5}
    \cellcolor{rosec}&
    \cellcolor{vertc}&
    \cellcolor{grisc}Xeniidae (Xéniidés) &
    \cellcolor{grisc}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {xenia.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisc}\hbox{Xenia (specimen),} Anthelia, Asterospicularia, Cespitularia, Funginus, Efflatounaria, Heteroxenia, Sympodium, Sansibia \
\hline
\multirow{3}{=}{%
    \cellcolor{rosef}Pennatulacea (Pennatules) } &
    \cellcolor{vertc}Sessiliflorae &
    \cellcolor{grisc}Umbellulidae, Vertillidae, Protoptilidae $\dots$ &
    \cellcolor{grisc}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {cavernularia.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisc}Umbellula, \hbox{Cavernularia (specimen),} Cavernulina, Veretillum, Distichoptilum, Protoptilum $\dots$   \
\cline{2-5}
    \cellcolor{rosef}&
    \cellcolor{vertf}Subsessili-florae &
    \cellcolor{grisf}Halipteridae Pennatulidae Virgulariidae &
    \cellcolor{grisf}
        \vspace{0.5em}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth] {virgularia.jpg} &
    \cellcolor{grisf}Halipteris, Crassophyllum, Pennatulata $\dots$ Acanthoptilum, \hbox{Virgularia (Specimen)} \
\hline
\end{supertabular}
\end{center}
\end{changemargin}
Retour des marges à la normale. Il existe encore de nombreuses divergences quand il s'agit de rentrer dans le détail des nomenclatures et notamment dans le classement des genres au sein des familles.


\end{document}