I may have to consult the Silmarillion on this - like I said, I was being a pedantic asshole (I'm REALLY good at that), but I enjoy the discussion - After reading all the comments, I think dwarves, humans, and halflings might all be the same species, but elves I'm pretty sure are their own race. What about orcs? And since the Ishtari are also virtually immortal are they also a different race? Or is that from their studying the magics? And Tom Bombadill was also a mystery - I never did read the short story about him....Thanks for the discussion all
Orcs are elves. Mutated/altered/tortured elves but still elves. It is specifically said in one of the books that orcs were created from captured elves.
I was going to add that in Tolkien's work Trolls are Ents but I
think it was said that Sauron/Morgoth/whothehellitwas was trying to create something
like the Ents so it is unclear if the Trolls were created from nothing or if they are altered Ents.