A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Rangifer,-feri (s.m.II), abl.sg. Rangifero, nom. pl. Rangiferi, acc. pl. Rangiferos: “a genus consisting of the domestic and wild reindeer and caribous” (WIII); deer, reindeer, elk and caribou; cf. cervus,-i (s.m.II), a stag, deer.

Rangifer tarandus = caribou, a deer from Arctic and Subarctic North America and Eurasia (Wikipedia 2019);

NOTE: an adjective treated as a masculine noun of the second declension; chosen by C. Linnaeus and its epither ‘tarandus;’ “the tarandos name goes back to Aristotle and Theophrastus” (Wipedia “Reindeer” June 2019).

Tarandrus,-i (s.m.II), abl.sg. tarandro: “an animal found in northern countries; according to Cuvier, the reindeer” (Lewis and Short); note their spelling differs from the Linnaean epithet, as does the Greek: tarandros (s.m.II), “a horned beast, native of Scythia, reindeer, or more probably elk” (Liddell & Scott).

NOTE: Glare indicated that the Greek noun may be either tarandros or tarandos.

Rangifer tarandus, the caribou; Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus; R. t. groenlandicus.

- [Sphagnum palustre molle deflexum] Muscus palustris mollis candidus rangiferorum, quò rangiferi avide vescuntur (Dill.), the soft, shining white bog moss, of the reindeer, which is avidly eaten by the reindeer

- [29. Coralloides montanum fruticuli specie, ubique candicans. The Reindeer Moss, or the commom white Mountain Coralloides] Rangiferi longa hyeme in extremo septentrione vitam tolerant Coralloide 29. planta valde arida & exsucca (Dill.), the reindeer endure life in the long winter in the extreme north with Coralloides 29., a plant very shrivelled up and deprived of its juice.

- Omnia Genera & species naturalia sunt. Non enim licet conjungere sub eodem genere Equum & Suem: licet ambae species monungulae essent; nec Capreolum, Rangiferum & Alcen genere distinguere, licet cornuum figura differant (Linn.), all the species and genera are [natural]. Certainly it is not allowed to unite the Horse and the Hog under the same genus: although both species may have been monungulate [i.e. possessing a single hoof]; nor [is it permitted] to separate by a genus the Roebuck, Reindeer [= Caribou], and Elk , although they may differ by the shape of the horns.

1681: Lappones hieme cum ſuis rangiferis tranſmigrantes ex nive condenſata sii tuguria inſtruunt, ac ſupernè ramis arborum & nive ſuper inſtrata contegunt, adverſus frigus duriſſimum ſatis muniti, quando nec alia eorum eſt veſtis, quam Rangiferorum pellis nudæ cuti aptata. —Speculum imaginum veritatis occultae, R. P. Iacobus Masenius: (The Lapps, migrating in winter with their reindeer, build up huts for themselves out of packed snow and covered with branches of trees on top and strewn snow, are sufficiently armed against the harshest cold, even when no other is their clothing than the pelt of their Reindeer put on their naked skin.) [Wiktionary “rangifer” June 2019].