dentatus

Dentatus is a Latin adjective used as a descriptive epithet in scientific names across biology. It literally means "toothed" or "having teeth" and is used to indicate tooth-like projections, serrations, or dentate margins on a taxon's morphology.

In taxonomy, dentatus appears as a species epithet in plants, animals, and microorganisms. In plants it may describe leaves, fruits, or calyx margins that are toothed or dentate. In animals it can refer to denticulate edges on shells or appendages, or to distinctive tooth-like dentition in bones or jaws. In fossils, the term flags specimens with pronounced dental or dentate features preserved in the morphology.

Grammar: The epithet dentatus is masculine singular; dentata is feminine; dentatum is neuter. The form must agree with the gender of the genus name according to botanical or zoological nomenclature rules.

Dentatus is closely related to English dentate and to dental morphology; it is distinct from other descriptors such as dentiform, which denotes a shape like a tooth but not necessarily dentation.