lacustrinus

Lacustrinus is a Latin adjective meaning “of a lake” or “lake-dwelling.” It is formed from lacus, meaning lake, and the suffix -inus, which creates adjectives. In scientific naming, lacustrinus is used as a species epithet to indicate an association with lake habitats. The masculine form is lacustrinus, the feminine lacustrina, and the neuter lacustrinum; the epithet must agree in gender with the genus name.

In taxonomy, lacustrinus is applied to a wide range of organisms—plants, aquatic invertebrates, and animals—that were collected from lakes or are typically found in lake ecosystems. Its use signals a habitat-related attribute rather than a discovered evolutionary relationship. The exact ecological or geographical meaning should be interpreted from the original species description and associated type locality.

Lacustrinus is related to the English term lacustrine, which describes lake environments rather than a taxonomic designation. Both derive from the same Latin root but serve different purposes: lacustrine as a descriptive habitat adjective in ecology and geography, and lacustrinus as a formal taxonomic epithet in binomial nomenclature.

See also: lacustrine; habitat descriptors in taxonomy; Latin grammar in scientific nomenclature.