taediosus

Taediosus is a Latin adjective used in biological nomenclature as a descriptive epithet in species names. The term derives from taedium, meaning weariness or tedium, and the suffix -osus meaning “full of” or “characterized by,” yielding the sense of “full of weariness” or “tedious.” In taxonomic practice, taediosus is gendered to agree with the genus name: taediosus (masculine), taediosa (feminine), taediosum (neuter).

Usage in taxonomy is relatively uncommon compared with more descriptive epithets. When it appears, taediosus may reflect the author’s impression of some aspect of the organism—perhaps related to appearance, behavior, or the observer’s experience during study—or may refer to a trait that seemed tedious to investigate.

Examples of taediosus in actual taxa are scattered across historical and contemporary taxonomic records, and the exact meaning can vary by context. Because Latin epithets can carry nuanced or dated implications, the intended sense in a given name often requires consulting the original description or diagnosis to understand what the author intended by the epithet.

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