toracicus

Toracicus is a Latin adjective used primarily in biological nomenclature to mean "of the thorax" or "thoracic." In taxonomy, it is commonly employed as a species epithet to indicate a thoracic association, such as a notable feature of the thorax or a relation to the thoracic region. The term is not a standalone taxon but a descriptor within binomial names.

In Latinized form, toracicus has gendered variants to agree with different genus names: toracicus (masculine), toracica (feminine), and toracicum (neuter). When used in a scientific name, the epithet must concord with the gender of the genus, following standard rules of Latin grammar in taxonomic nomenclature. Because it is an epithet rather than a genus, toracicus can appear across multiple, unrelated groups of organisms that share a thoracic-related trait or origin, including various invertebrates and potentially vertebrates, depending on the describer’s rationale.

The usage of toracicus reflects a common practice in taxonomy to encode morphology or locality into species names through Latin descriptors. It is distinct from the English adjective thoracic, which is used outside of strict binomial nomenclature. As a term, toracicus does not refer to a single, widely recognized organism or genus but to a class of descriptors found in diverse scientific names.