laticeps

Laticeps is a Latin adjective used in biological nomenclature as a species epithet, not as the name of a genus or a standalone taxon. In binomial names, laticeps serves as the second element (the specific epithet) and is intended to describe a characteristic of the species—specifically, a broad or wide head relative to related forms. Because the epithet is descriptive rather than taxonomically hierarchical, it can appear in many unrelated lineages across different groups.

Etymology and meaning: laticeps combines lati-, meaning broad, with -ceps, derived from caput, meaning head. The resulting term translates roughly to “broad-headed.” The use reflects morphological observations by the taxonomist who described the species and does not imply close evolutionary relatedness among all laticeps-bearing taxa.

Taxonomic usage: The epithet laticeps is found across a variety of organisms, including birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, and plants. It is common enough that multiple genera may include a species with this epithet, each described independently based on local morphology. Because epithets are reused across different genera, the full scientific name is required to identify a given species unambiguously.

Notes: As with many descriptive epithets, laticeps may refer to historical descriptions and does not convey phylogenetic information. When consulting taxonomic databases or literature, the full binomial name should be cited to avoid confusion with other species that share the epithet in different genera.