Roy Orbison joins the insect world - February 01, 2008
I’ve had some quite cool presents in my time but no one has ever named a species after me. Then again, I’ve never done anything as impressive as Roy Orbison and unlike Michael Cousins I’m not about to marry someone who goes around discovering species.
First up Orbison: Quentin Wheeler, an entomologist at Arizona State University, announced to an Orbison tribute concert this month that a new species of beetle would be named Orectochilus orbisonorum in honour of both the late, great Orbison and his widow, Barbara (press release).
LiveScience reckons the bug looks like it’s wearing a tuxedo, although I’m not entirely convinced. ASU says a paper on O. orbisonorum will appear shortly in the journal Zootaxa.
Now on to Cousins, who is lucky enough to be engaged to a woman who has just discovered six new species of fish. Nikki King, of the University of Aberdeen, noticed the really rather ugly things after a deep sea trawl of the Southern Indian Ocean.
“I could only identify the six so far – not down to species level. So we packed them into preservative and took them home,” she says (press release). “Ever since I set my heart on becoming a marine biologist I hoped I would discover one new species, so to have discovered six is tremendously exciting!”
King named one of the fish after her fiancé Michael Cousins: Pachycara cousinsi. Over at Deep Sea News Kevin Zelnio thinks the animal is so ugly there’s a chance Cousins is getting a coded message from his future wife. This seems crazy talk. I’d love even the lowest bug to be named after me, although a chemical element would be even better.
You can read a lot more about eccentric naming of species in Richard Fortey’s new book Dry Store Room No. 1 (Nature review by Henry Nichols; subscription required).
Comments
All this press coverage of my Fiance naming a species of fish after me is quite flattering, as it has been well over a year since she first told me about it. And to be mentioned in the same sentance as Roy orbison has made my day. Do you have a picture of Orectochilus orbisonorum to compare 'Uglity'? Thanks
Michael Cousins
[A picture of the bug can be found with the LiveScience coverage – ed.]
Posted by: Michael Cousins | February 5, 2008 12:00 PM
What I want to know is, will the fish be in the wedding party? Or on the wedding buffet table??
Posted by: Alex Witze | February 5, 2008 01:12 PM