kauensis

Kauensis is a Latin-derived species epithet used in biological nomenclature to indicate origin from Kauaʻi, the westernmost of Hawaii's main islands. The epithet is formed from Kauaʻi with the Latin suffix -ensis, generally meaning "of" or "from," and is applied across multiple taxa to signal the type locality or geographic association of a species. In zoological and botanical naming, kauensis is treated as an adjective that typically agrees in gender with the genus name, though the exact form may vary slightly depending on taxonomic tradition.

The epithet does not denote a stand-alone taxon; it is part of a binomial (or trinomial, in some cases) scientific name. The use of geographic epithets like kauensis reflects historical patterns of specimen collection and species description, particularly in biodiversity-rich regions such as Hawaii. Kauaʻi is home to many endemic species, and the kauensis epithet has been applied to some of these to denote their association with the island in the original descriptions.

Related topics include the broader practice of geographic naming in taxonomy and the ecology and biodiversity of Kauaʻi. See also Kauaʻi and discussions of geographic epithets in scientific nomenclature.