The New Beetles: Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld

By Roland Piquepaille

Two entomologists at Cornell University who were in charge to name several new species of slime-mold beetles have decided to honor U.S. President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, according to this news release. These beetles are living in different environments, and pretty far from the White House: the Agathidium bushi lives in Southern Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia, while the Agathidium rumsfeldi and the Agathidium cheneyi come from different regions of Mexico. Anyway, executives from the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) have some concerns, and these names might not be approved by this organization. Read more...

Here is the beginning of the story.

Two former Cornell University entomologists who recently had the job of naming 65 new species of slime-mold beetles named three species that are new to science in the genus Agathidium for members of the U.S. administration. They are A. bushi Miller and Wheeler, A. cheneyi Miller and Wheeler and A. rumsfeldi Miller and Wheeler.

These naming rules are strongly codified and here is a short explanation.

According to rules established by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, the first word of a new species is its genus; the second word must end in "i" if it's named after a person; and the final part of the name includes the person or persons who first described the species. That's why all the new slime-mold beetle species' names end with Miller and Wheeler.

Before going further, let's look at a good-looking beetle.

Here is a beetle sitting on milkweed (Credit: Dennis Curtin). This image comes from this page from Seasonal Signs, Dennis Curtin's journal of natural events in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Now, why have these entomologists decided to give the names of U.S. political leaders to some insects?

The decision to name three slime-mold beetles after Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, however, didn't have anything to do with physical features, says Quentin Wheeler, a professor of entomology and of plant biology at Cornell for 24 years until last October, but to pay homage to the U.S. leaders. "We admire these leaders as fellow citizens who have the courage of their convictions and are willing to do the very difficult and unpopular work of living up to principles of freedom and democracy rather than accepting the expedient or popular," says Wheeler.

So far, eyebrows are raised at the ICZN, but according to its executive secretary, Andrew Polaszek, in this news report, there is no formal opposition to the names of these insects.

"Religion and politics should be kept out of naming of animals," Mr Polaszek said. "It goes really against the spirit of the [nomenclature] code."

There are no rules in the code that specifically ban biologists from naming species after political figures. However, it does allow for proposed names to be barred if they cause offence.

So will we see one day A. chiraci or A. blairi species? Who knows?

Finally, for more information about beetles, check this Wikipedia page.

P>Sources: Cornell University News Service, April 13, 2005; and various websites

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