It’s been a rough few days here. We’ve read about a Lyme disease vaccine that was killed off by panic, goat testicle implants, and two-headed Russian zombie dogs.
So let’s talk about tiny beasts named after superheroes.
Today’s Moment of Science… whacky taxonomy.
Identify a new species and you get to name the little bugger. The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is a giant handbook that sets the rules for how naming works from kingdom down to species. It’s over 300 pages, so we’re doing the TL;DR version of species naming rules.
Names should be spelled with the twenty-six letters of the Latin alphabet, concise, and not considered offensive. It’s also suggested that they be “memorable,” appropriate, and pleasing to the ear, and this is where it seems there’s room for creativity.
Beyonce’s namesake animal is a fly with a literal golden bottom, Plinthina beyonceae. It sat waiting in Australia from 1982 until 2012 when it was recognized as a new species, named by Bryan Lessard, aka the Fly Guy. Aleiodes shakirae, a parasitic wasp, got its name because host animals will shake and twist, reminding researchers of Shakira’s belly dancing.
Jennifer Lopez has an itsy little mite named after her, Litarachna lopezae. The scientists enjoyed her music while researching, and really, isn’t that more than enough reason?
The Tasmanicosa hughjackmani is an Australian wolf spider named for the Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman. Their bites tend to cause irritation and itchiness, but it’s perhaps one thing in Australia that won’t fucking kill you. Let’s compare it to say, Humorolethalis sergius, a fly named for Deadpool. Sounding like “lethal humor’ but derived from the Latin humorosus for ‘wet’ and lethalis for ‘dead,’ its body bears a resemblance to Deadpool’s mask. The bug was named by CSIRO researchers Isabella Robinson, David Yeates, and Li Xuankun. Lessard called it an ‘assassin.’ Team #tasmanicosahughjackmani or team #humorolethalissergius?
If DC is more your universe, there’s the South American armored catfish named the Otocinclus batmani. I think it’s named after Superman or some guy whose mother’s name is Martha.
Some of you might already be typing angry comments that I crossed the actors with the characters back there. Fair. But some people have species named after them and their characters. In the case of Harrison Ford, there’s an ant species named Pheidole harrisonfordi, a spider named Calponia harrisonfordi, and a trilobite named the Han solo. Given that trilobites are from a quarter of a billion years ago, it makes sense that it was named after his character from a galaxy long, long ago.
(I accept your groans).
It might have given you pause when you read that names couldn’t be offensive. What, like someone was going to try to name an animal after Hitler?
Well.
Hitler was in power for a while before getting all genocidal, so when someone named a beetle Anophthalmus hitleri in 1933, it wasn’t controversial. It’s generally hard to re-name a species after it’s been assigned a name, and you just know someone went all “I need to stand up for the Hitler beetle’s free speech.”
But getting away from nazis and onto something with a much more pleasant namesake, see if you can find the Clitoria ternatea (I have faith in you). Commonly known as the butterfly pea, it’s named after exactly what you think it’s named after. Carl von Linne, who formalized the binomial naming system of ‘Genus species’ that we use today, gifted the flower with its anatomically delightful name.
Then there’s Wunderpus photogenicus. Why did they name it that? Because it’s a gorgeous goddamn octopus, that’s why.
Stephen Colbert, and I quote, “begged” scientists to name a giant ant or a laser lion after him. To date, his taxonomic patronyms include two beetles, a wasp, a spider, and a stonefly, but no laser lion. Yet.
If you want to have a species named after you, the best way to do it is to be David Attenborough, with twenty-one species named after him.
Go out and dig around in the dirt, citizen scientists. You could find a new species and forever name it after someone you love or, depending on what species it is, someone you hate. But how do you get a new species named after you? You can’t name it after yourself, so either get famous or get a research zoologist friend.
This has been your daily Moment of Science, looking for a research zoologist friend.
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