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 |
amboinensis | Chromis amboinensis (Bleeker, 1871) | Ambon chromis | Ambon or Amboina, Maluku Islands, Indonesia. |
antillarum | Chilomycterus antillarum Jordan & Rutter, 1897 | Web burrfish | Of, 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 |
buroensis | Gymnothorax buroensis (Bleeker, 1857) | Vagrant moray | Of, 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. |
manilensis | Arothron manilensis (Marion de Procé, 1822) | Narrow-lined puffer | Of, 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 |
novaehollandiae | Ogilbyina novaehollandiae (Steindachner, 1879) | Multicolored dottyback | Latinized 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 |
queenslandiae | Ogilbyina queenslandiae (Saville-Kent, 1893) | Queensland dottyback | After 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 |
tortugarum | Serranus tortugarum Longley, 1935 | Chalk bass | Of 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. |