New Delhi:
An insect that shares the golden flake hairstyle with 70-year-old Donald Trump has been named after the newly elected 45th President of United States.
A new endangered species of moth, officially described as Neopalpa donaldtrumpi, stands out with yellowish-white scales present on the head in adults.
It was evolutionary biologist Vazrick Nazari from Ottawa, Canada who found an amusing reference to Trump's hairstyle and turned it into an additional justification for its name.
After going through material borrowed from the Bohart Museum of Entomology at University of California, Davis in the US, Nazari stumbled across a few specimens that did not match any previously known species.
The research was published in the journal ZooKeys. After thorough analysis of these moths, as well as material from other institutions, the scientists discovered the second species of a genus of twirler moths.
Trump will be sworn in as the 45th US President on January 20. “The discovery of this distinct micro-moth in the densely populated and otherwise zoologically well-studied southern California underscores the importance of conservation of the fragile habitats that still contain undescribed and threatened species, and highlights the paucity of interest in species-level taxonomy of smaller faunal elements in North America,” said Nazari.
“By naming this species after the 45th President of the US, I hope to bring some public attention to, and interest in, the importance of alpha-taxonomy in better understanding the neglected micro-fauna component of the North American biodiversity,” Nazari added.
With PTI Inputs
