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Real-life Pokémon professor names newly discovered beetles after legendary birds
A trio of new beetles have been named after famous pokémon due to their rarity… and the fact the scientist that found them is a pokéfan.
While the Pokémon franchise is ostensibly for younger audiences, it’s popular with people of all ages and has expanded its reach beyond games and cartoons, with musicians like Katy Perry and Post Malone taking part in themed concerts.
It’s even wormed its way into the field of entomology, with one Doctor Darren Pollock and his colleague, PhD student Yun Hsiao, naming three newly discovered species of beetle after select pokémon in a research paper published back in December.
The species in question are, funnily enough, not named after any bug pokémon like Pinsir or Heracross but, instead, the three legendary birds from the original Red and Blue games: Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.
According to the Eastern New Mexico University’s website, Doctor Pollock, an entomology professor at the university, explains that it was Yun’s idea to name them as such, since he was an ‘aspiring pokémon trainer’ when he was younger.
As for why they went with the birds, it’s because the beetles in question are quite rare, much like the legendary birds themselves. In the games, there is usually only one of each legendary pokémon available to catch.
‘The choice of a name for a new species is not trivial; it must be different from any other described species. One of the ways to ensure this is to make a name that nobody would ever have come up with before,’ says Pollock.
‘Yun says that he was an aspiring pokémon trainer when he was young, and so, because of the rarity of the specimens of the three new species, he suggested that we name them after the three legendary bird pokémon. Naturally, I thought that this was a great idea, and so, the new species which were unveiled to the world in 2020 are Binburrum articuno, Binburrum moltres and Binburrum zapdos.’
The beetles themselves are specimens of a genus of Australian beetles called Binburrum, which Pollock himself discovered. Apparently, even more have been discovered since he and Yun finished the paper and Pollock admits that they may name them after more pokémon.
This isn’t the first time a scientist has been inspired by the franchise. In 2008, a new type of protein was named pikachurin after the mascot character Pikachu. And in 2014, a species of dinosaur was named Aerodactylus after the dinosaur-like Aerodactyl.
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