Worcesteri

Worcesteri is a Latinized specific epithet used in biological nomenclature to honor Worcester, a place name used in several regions (notably Worcester, England, and Worcester, Massachusetts). The epithet is derived from the toponym Worcester and is formed with the Latin suffix -i to indicate a masculine form, a pattern commonly employed for names commemorating places or people in species designations.

In zoological, botanical, and microbiological naming, Worcesteri is typically combined with a genus name to form a binomial or trinomial name. The epithet itself is written in lowercase, and in formal scientific writing it is italicized together with the genus name. As a toponym-based epithet, Worcesteri has been applied across diverse organisms and does not imply any shared ancestry or taxonomic relationship among the species bearing it.

The use of place-based epithets is governed by the relevant codes of nomenclature: the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) for animals, and the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) for plants and related groups. Researchers select these epithets to acknowledge a locality associated with the species, such as where it was collected or first described, and the same epithet can appear in unrelated taxa.

See also Worcester (disambiguation) for different uses of the place name, and notes on the broader practice of forming place-based epithets in scientific naming.