tenuirostris

Tenuirostris is a Latin-derived epithet used in the scientific names of various organisms to indicate a slender beak or rostrum. It combines tenui- (slender, thin) with rostris (beak, rostrum) and is employed as a descriptive adjective in binomial nomenclature rather than as a standalone taxon.

In taxonomy, tenuirostris is not a genus or family by itself; it is an adjective that modifies a genus name within a species name. Like other Latin descriptors, its ending is chosen to agree with the gender and number of the genus it accompanies, following standard rules of Latin grammar used in scientific naming.

A well-known example is Numenius tenuirostris, the slender-billed curlew, a wading bird in the family Scolopacidae. The species name reflects the bird’s characteristic slender bill. The slender-billed curlew has suffered extensive population declines, and in recent years it has not been reliably observed despite surveys, leading to its classification as Critically Endangered and possibly extinct by major conservation bodies.

The epithet tenuirostris may appear in other groups as well, wherever a slender beak is a notable trait described in the species. Because it is descriptive rather than taxonomically informative about relationships, multiple, unrelated organisms can share the same epithet if they exhibit similar morphological features.

In summary, tenuirostris is a descriptive Latin epithet meaning slender-beaked, used across various taxa to highlight a beak-like trait rather than to group related organisms.