famosus

Famosus is a Latin adjective meaning famous, notable, or celebrated. In scientific naming, it is used as a descriptive epithet in botanical and zoological taxa. It does not refer to a single formal taxon by itself but rather serves as part of a species name in combination with a genus.

Etymology and form: The term derives from the Latin noun fama, meaning fame or report. Like many Latin adjectives used in binomials, its ending changes to agree with the gender of the genus: famosus for masculine, famosa for feminine, and famosum for neuter. In practice, the masculine form famosus is the most commonly encountered in species epithets, but the other forms appear when naming taxa with feminine or neuter genera.

Taxonomic usage: Famosus has been employed across diverse groups, including plants, animals, and microbes, as a way to highlight a notable feature or the perceived fame of a species' attributes or discoverer. Because it is a general descriptor rather than a unique identifier, many unrelated taxa may bear different epithets that include or resemble the word famosus, depending on the genus involved. There is no widely recognized genus or species that is universally abbreviated or standardized as just famosus.

See also: Latin binomial nomenclature, taxonomic nomenclature, species epithet.

Notes: As with other Latin epithets, proper usage follows the rules of the respective nomenclatural code (botanical or zoological) regarding gender agreement and latinization.