02-24-2012, 12:57 PM
In Canada, Andrew Smith, a researcher at the Canadian Museum of Nature, named a scarab beetle species Platycoelia hiporum, found in the Andes Mountains, after the band The Tragically Hip. He listen to them when he was a PhD student working in a lab.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.thestar.com/article/1126148--scientists-turn-to-celebrities-to-name-new-species">http://www.thestar.com/article/1126148- ... ew-species</a><!-- m -->
Scientists turn to celebrities to name new species
Somewhere in Brazil flies a newly discovered species of bee named after a pioneering Canadian scientist, Peter Kevan.
Kevan is one of Canada’s leading researchers into pollination and it’s fitting that a bee should be named after him.
The small, slender Chilicola kevani honours his work teaching students in remote areas of the Amazon rain forest.
Just getting there was rigorous. It took a day and half by boat to reach the field station where Kevan taught pollination biology. At the end of the teaching day, students plunged into a nearby river for a swim, not far from where fishermen were hauling in piranha, the retired University of Guelph insect ecologist recalls.
In Australia, meanwhile, there’s a golden-bottomed horsefly named for a curvaceous singer who has not contributed to the advancement of science but whose beauty is known worldwide.
Scaptia (Plinthina) beyoncea, named after the American pop star Beyoncé, is “the all-time diva of flies,” says researcher Bryan Lessard. It had been collected in Queensland in 1981 and housed in the Australian National Insect Collection, but had not been officially named or “described.”
Naming new genus and species is a tradition that dates back to the 18th century and the work of Swedish natural historian Carl Linnaeus, known as the father of modern taxonomy. To amuse himself, he used word play and sexually explicit names for new species.
More recently, scientists have named new discoveries after celebrities. And in this more breezy atmosphere, the use of Latin names is declining; it’s part of an effort to speed up the process of recognizing new plant species. As of Jan. 1, the International Botanical Congress ruled that Latin was no longer required in naming and that new discoveries could now be officially described in online journals. Previously they had to be described in print journals to be recognized.
“Nowadays when faced with having to name several hundred new species, you can hit creative roadblocks,” says Doug Yanega, a University of California (Riverside) entomologist who is also a commissioner on the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. “Most scientists face some sort of challenge in coming up with an appropriate name.”
Recently a new species of hairy chested crab was unofficially named “The Hoff” after the famously bare-chested Baywatch actor David Hasselhoff.
A species of ant and spider have been named after actor Harrison Ford in recognition of his conservation work.
In Canada, Andrew Smith, a researcher at the Canadian Museum of Nature, named a scarab beetle species Platycoelia hiporum, found in the Andes Mountains, after the band The Tragically Hip. He listen to them when he was a PhD student working in a lab.
Celebrity names can generate a few moments of fame. If the horsefly had been given a homely name, instead of Beyoncé’s, who would have noticed, asks Yanega.
“The guy who named spiders after Angelina Jolie, Stephen Colbert and Neil Young, it got him on TV,” says Yanega, who has 10 species of bees named after him.
“But there’s nothing wrong with it if it makes the public more aware of what scientists do.”
Some scientists, in need of research funds, offer species’ names for sale. Right now in Idaho, a tiny black beetle is in need of a name.
A minimum offer of $15,000 (U.S.) is suggested by researchers at the Conservation Biology Centre in Spokane, Wash. James Bergdahl, who has spent 15 years “prospecting” for the beetle, is also offering a finder’s fee for any one “delivering” a buyer.
He adds: “This is a limited-time offer.”
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.thestar.com/article/1126148--scientists-turn-to-celebrities-to-name-new-species">http://www.thestar.com/article/1126148- ... ew-species</a><!-- m -->
Scientists turn to celebrities to name new species
Somewhere in Brazil flies a newly discovered species of bee named after a pioneering Canadian scientist, Peter Kevan.
Kevan is one of Canada’s leading researchers into pollination and it’s fitting that a bee should be named after him.
The small, slender Chilicola kevani honours his work teaching students in remote areas of the Amazon rain forest.
Just getting there was rigorous. It took a day and half by boat to reach the field station where Kevan taught pollination biology. At the end of the teaching day, students plunged into a nearby river for a swim, not far from where fishermen were hauling in piranha, the retired University of Guelph insect ecologist recalls.
In Australia, meanwhile, there’s a golden-bottomed horsefly named for a curvaceous singer who has not contributed to the advancement of science but whose beauty is known worldwide.
Scaptia (Plinthina) beyoncea, named after the American pop star Beyoncé, is “the all-time diva of flies,” says researcher Bryan Lessard. It had been collected in Queensland in 1981 and housed in the Australian National Insect Collection, but had not been officially named or “described.”
Naming new genus and species is a tradition that dates back to the 18th century and the work of Swedish natural historian Carl Linnaeus, known as the father of modern taxonomy. To amuse himself, he used word play and sexually explicit names for new species.
More recently, scientists have named new discoveries after celebrities. And in this more breezy atmosphere, the use of Latin names is declining; it’s part of an effort to speed up the process of recognizing new plant species. As of Jan. 1, the International Botanical Congress ruled that Latin was no longer required in naming and that new discoveries could now be officially described in online journals. Previously they had to be described in print journals to be recognized.
“Nowadays when faced with having to name several hundred new species, you can hit creative roadblocks,” says Doug Yanega, a University of California (Riverside) entomologist who is also a commissioner on the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. “Most scientists face some sort of challenge in coming up with an appropriate name.”
Recently a new species of hairy chested crab was unofficially named “The Hoff” after the famously bare-chested Baywatch actor David Hasselhoff.
A species of ant and spider have been named after actor Harrison Ford in recognition of his conservation work.
In Canada, Andrew Smith, a researcher at the Canadian Museum of Nature, named a scarab beetle species Platycoelia hiporum, found in the Andes Mountains, after the band The Tragically Hip. He listen to them when he was a PhD student working in a lab.
Celebrity names can generate a few moments of fame. If the horsefly had been given a homely name, instead of Beyoncé’s, who would have noticed, asks Yanega.
“The guy who named spiders after Angelina Jolie, Stephen Colbert and Neil Young, it got him on TV,” says Yanega, who has 10 species of bees named after him.
“But there’s nothing wrong with it if it makes the public more aware of what scientists do.”
Some scientists, in need of research funds, offer species’ names for sale. Right now in Idaho, a tiny black beetle is in need of a name.
A minimum offer of $15,000 (U.S.) is suggested by researchers at the Conservation Biology Centre in Spokane, Wash. James Bergdahl, who has spent 15 years “prospecting” for the beetle, is also offering a finder’s fee for any one “delivering” a buyer.
He adds: “This is a limited-time offer.”
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Dana