Longnosed

Longnosed is a descriptive term used in anatomy and biology to denote an extended nasal structure or snout. It functions as a morphological descriptor rather than a taxonomic group, applying to a range of living and extinct organisms as well as to certain plant forms that have elongated appendages described as noses in a metaphorical sense. In practical use, researchers quantify longnosed traits by comparing snout or rostrum length to skull length, body length, or other cranial dimensions.

Examples include elephants, whose trunk is an extended nose; many bat species referred to as longnosed bats; and various fishes with elongated rostra such as gars. Several species carry longnosed in their common name, including the lesser longnosed bat and the greater longnosed bat, and the longnosed gar. The term may also appear in paleontological descriptions of extinct taxa where snout length informs functional inferences about feeding or sensory capabilities.

Because facial morphology can be influenced by environment and phylogeny, longnosed is a comparative descriptor rather than a definitive classification, and its significance varies by context.

See also: nose, snout, proboscis, rostrum.