Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae




Scientists are such serious fellows, aren't they? What with their use of Latin to disguise what they are on about. Why name things in a dead language? Take a horse-fly for example, like the Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae - that's the fellow in the picture above.

How on earth did the creature get called that? It was named by Bryan Lessard, an Australian National Insect Collection researcher and his inspiration was Beyoncé - but he had to spoil it by giving the name a Latin appearance.

This is what Lessard said about how he named the horse-fly: "It was the unique dense golden hairs on the fly’s abdomen that led me to name this fly in honor of the performer Beyoncé as well as giving me the chance to demonstrate the fun side of taxonomy – the naming of species."

So does that mean Beyoncé has golden hairs on her, erm, abdomen? Well no, funnily enough, it's because the horse-fly has a golden backside / bottom - and that gives me the excuse to include the photo below in this post!

Beyonce bottom bum


Other celebs besides Beyoncé have had creatures named after them, with Latin sounding names:

Neil Young, a spider: Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi

Mark Knopfler, a dinasaur: Masiakasaurus knopfleri

Arnold Schwarzenegger, a carabid beetle: Agra schwarzeneggeri

George W Bush, a mold beetle: Agathidium bushi

Dick Cheney, a mold beetle: Agathidium cheneyi

Donald Rumsfeld, a mold beetle: Agathidium rumsfeldi

Mick Jagger, a prehistoric trilobite: Aegrotocatellus jaggeri

Keith Richards, a prehistoric trilobite: Perirehaedulus richardsi

Kate Winslet, a ground beetle: Agra katewinsletae

Angelina Jolie, a trapdoor spider: Aptostichus angelinajolieae

Bill Gates, a flower: Eristalis gatesi

Marilyn Monroe, a trilobite: Norasaphus monroeae

Hugh Hefner, a marsh rabbit: Sylvilagus palustris hefneri

Adolf Hitler, blind beetle: Anophthalmus hitleri

Stan Laurel, cicadas: Baeturia laureli

John Cleese, a wooly lemur: Avahi cleesei

And no doubt the list goes on and on. Who said scientists are serious? Oh, I did.