He decided to give the name of the young Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg to a new never mentioned species of beetles.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him"You are never too young to make a difference" and it is for this reason that Michael Darby, a researcher at the Natural History Museum in London working on the Ptiliidae, a family of tiny beetles, has decided to name the young Swedish activist for the climate Greta Thunberg to an unnamed species. And here it is the Nelloptodes gretae, less than 1 mm long, without wings or eyes but with two long antennae similar to a pigtail.
The insect with the new name is now formally baptized in the specialist magazine Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, thanks to the choice of the scientist Darby who said he was "immensely impressed" by the environmental campaign of the Swedish teenager.
The current Nelloptodes gretae was first discovered in Kenya in the 60s by William Block, who donated his specimens to the Natural History Museum in London in 1978. It has since been kept in one of the museum's collections. Dr. Darby was studying this collection when he came across this then unnamed species that barely measures 0,79 millimeters, is pale yellow and gold in color and has neither eyes nor wings.
Dr. Max Barclay, the museum's senior curator in charge of the beetles, said the name is more than fair because “unknown species are likely to be lost continuously, even before scientists have even named them, due to biodiversity loss. This is why it is appropriate to name one of the most recent discoveries after someone has worked so hard to defend the natural world and protect vulnerable species ”.
Curiosity: it is not unusual for scientists and scholars to have the habit of dedicating animals and plants to more or less famous people. Among the last ones we remember the Obamadonte, a prehistoric lizard dedicated to Barack Obama in 2011; to Trump the moth Neopalma donaldtrumpi and an amphibian from the rainforest of Panama would instead be dedicated. TO Sting a frog from Colombia is named after a Mick Jagger a fossil mollusk (Anomphalus jaggerius). There is no shortage of a dinosaur from Confucius, a bird from Indira Gandhi, a cactus from Einsten and many other oddities.
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- Picnic in hell: the new piece by Piero Pelù was released today where a duet with Greta Thunberg. And it's beautiful
- Greta Thunberg was alone a year ago, today millions are on strike. The photo that demonstrates how even one person can make a difference
Germana Carillo
