Geographical epithets

Geographical epithets, also known as toponyms, may indicate the general area where a species may be found, the site of its first discovery, or the location where the type specimen was collected but they do not necessarily reflect its geographical distribution. The name is ‘Latinized’ giving it the same gender, case, and tense as the Genus name. These can be often be identified by the inclusion in name of a suffix such as -anus, (-a, -um), meaning of or pertaining to, -icus with the sense of belonging to, and particularly -ensis, meaning belong to or originating in – indicating origin or place.

There are misleading examples of names ending in ensis that are actually eponyms where the suffix is used with the meaning of belonging to (a person).

Toponyms are not exclusive, more than one species can be found with the same specific name. Be aware that place names change over time and that many older descriptions feature archaic names that may no longer be readily recognised, for example Zeylon is an older form of Ceylon, a country now referred to as Sri Lanka. Reference to the original description may be necessary to differentiate geographical names from other descriptive terms, and particularly from eponyms as place names are often named in honour of an individual such as as scientist or explorer.

Generally its the specific name, the second part of the species name, that refers to geographical location but genus names conveying this information, while uncommon, are not unknown.

The table below is not extensive, it contains geographical epithets from my recent research into the etymology of reef aquarium fishes, and is intended to serve as an example of how these names are formed.

Toponym

Scientific name

Common name

Location

aldabraensis

Pseudochromis aldabraensis Bauchot-Boutin, 1958

Orange dottyback

Of, or from, Aldabra, Seychelles

ambanoro

Vanderhorstia ambanoro (Fourmanoir, 1957)

Ambanoro prawn-goby

Ambanoro Bay, Nosy Be, Madagascar

amboinensisChromis amboinensis (Bleeker, 1871) Ambon chromisAmbon or Amboina, Maluku Islands, Indonesia.
antillarumChilomycterus antillarum Jordan & Rutter, 1897Web burrfishOf, or from, the Antilles

argi

Centropyge argi Woods & Kanazawa, 1951

Cherubfish or Pygmy angel

Argus Bank, off Bermuda

bandanensis

Stethojulis bandanensis (Bleeker, 1851)

Red shoulder wrasse

Of, or from, Banda; the Banda Islands or Banda Sea Indonesia

bandanus

Ecsenius bandanus Springer, 1971       

Banda comb-tooth

Of, or from, Banda; the Banda Islands or Banda Sea Indonesia

batavianus

Platax batavianus Cuvier, 1831

Humpback batfish

Of, or from, Batavia, old name for Jakarta,

batuensis

Coris batuensis (Bleeker, 1856)

Batu coris

Of, or from, the Batu Islands, off Sumatra

bermudensis

Holacanthus bermudensis Goode, 1876

Blue angelfish

Of, or from, the Bermuda Islands

brasiliensis

Gramma brasiliensis Sazima, Gasparini & Mouran, 1998

Brazilian basslet

Of, or from, Brazil

buroensisGymnothorax buroensis (Bleeker, 1857)Vagrant morayOf, or from, the island of Buru, Maluku Islands, Indonesia

celebicus

Oxycheilinus celebicus (Bleeker, 1853)

Celebes wrasse.

Of the island of Sulawesi, formerly Celebes, Indonesia or the Celebes sea

clarionensis

Holacanthus clarionensis Gilbert, 1890

Clarion angelfish

Of, or from, Isla Clarión, Mexico

hawaiiensis

Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis Randall, 1955

Chevron tang

Of, or from, Hawaii

izuensis

Bodianus izuensis Araga & Yoshino, 1975

Striped pigfish

Izu Peninsula and Izu Oceanic Park, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan

lucasanum

Thalassoma lucasanum (Gill, 1862)

Cortez rainbow wrasse

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, formerly, Cape St. Lucas, Lower California

luzonensis

Pseudanthias luzonensis (Katayama & Masuda, 1983

Yellowlined Fairy Basslet

Of, or from, Luzon island, Philippines.

manilensisArothron manilensis (Marion de Procé, 1822)Narrow-lined pufferOf, or from, Manila

martinicensis

Xyrichtys martinicensis Valenciennes, 1840

Rosy razorfish

Of, or from, Martinique

martinicus

Mulloidichthys martinicus (Cuvier, 1829)

Yellow goatfish

Of, or from, Martinique

moluccanus

Pseudodax moluccanus (Valenciennes, 1840)

Chiseltooth wrasse

Of, or from, the Maluku Islands (also known as the Molucca Islands), an Indonesian archipelago

negrosensis

Macropharyngodon negrosensis Herre, 1932

Yellowspotted wrasse

Of, or from, Negros, one of the Visayan Islands in the Philippines

neoguinaicus

Anampses neoguinaicus Bleeker, 1878

New Guinea wrasse

Of, or from, New Guinea

novaehollandiaeOgilbyina novaehollandiae (Steindachner, 1879)Multicolored dottybackLatinized form of New Holland, old name for Australia

okinawae

Gobiodon okinawae Sawada, Arai & Abe, 1972

Okinawa goby

Of, or from, Okinawa

oualanensis

Meiacanthus oualanensis (Günther, 1880)

Canary fangblenny

Of, or from, Ovalau Island, Fiji

panamensis

Cephalopholis panamensis (Steindachner, 1876)

Pacific graysby

Of, or from, Panama

papua

Canthigaster papua (Bleeker, 1848)

Papuan toby

Papua New Guinea

papuensis

Scorpaenopsis papuensis (Cuvier, 1829)

Papuan scorpionfish

Of, or from, Papua New Guinea

pelewensis

Chaetodon pelewensis Kner, 1868

Sunset butterflyfish

Of, or from, the Pelew Islands; now known as the Republic of Palau

pinos

Amblycirrhitus pinos (Mowbray, 1927)

Redspotted hawkfish

After Isla de Pinos, the second largest Cuban island, now known as Isla de la Juventud

queenslandiaeOgilbyina queenslandiae (Saville-Kent, 1893)Queensland dottybackAfter Queensland, Australia

riukiuensis

Alionematichthys riukiuensis (Aoyagi, 1954)

Bigeye cusk

Of, or from, the Ryukyu Islands, Japan

solorensis

Cirrhilabrus solorensis Bleeker, 1853

Redhead Fairy Wrasse

Of, or from, Solor Island; Solor Archipelago, Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia

strongia

Sebastapistes strongia (Cuvier, 1829)

Barchin scorpionfish

After the island of Oualan or Strong, in the Caroline Islands

tominiensis

Ctenochaetus tominiensis Randall, 1955

Tomini surgeonfish

Of, or from, the Gulf of Tomini, Sulawesi, Indonesia

tongaensis

Meiacanthus tongaensis Smith-Vaniz, 1987

 Tonga Fang Blenny

Of, or from, Tonga

tortugarumSerranus tortugarum Longley, 1935Chalk bassOf the Dry Tortugas, south of the Florida Keys

Tosana

Tosana niwae Smith & Pope, 1906

Threadtail anthias

Tosa, one of the four provinces of Shikoku, Japan

toshimaensis

Neoclinus toshimaensis Fukao, 1980

Japanese Fringehead

Of, or from, Toshima, Tanabe Bay, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan

ulietensis

Chaetodon ulietensis Cuvier, 1831

Pacific double-saddle butterflyfish

Of, or from, Ulieta, old name for Raiatea, the  Society Islands, French Polynesia

vaigiensis

Abudefduf vaigiensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)

Indo-Pacific sergeant.

Of, or from, Waigeo (or Waigiu), Raja Ampat archipelago, West Papua, Indonesia

vanicolensis

Mulloidichthys vanicolensis (Valenciennes, 1831)

 Yellowfin goatfish

Of, or from, Vanikoro (also known as Vanikolo), Solomon Islands

virginicus

Anisotremus virginicus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Porkfish

Of, or from, Virginia, USA

zeylonicus

Halichoeres zeylonicus (Bennett, 1833)

Goldstripe wrasse

Of or from Zeylon, a spelling variation of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka.