Three new slime mold beetles named after Dubya, Cheney and Rumsfeld

[TrogL]

(this is actually a bit stale, but I haven't seen it before)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agathidium



Agathidium bushi, Agathidium cheneyi, and Agathidium rumsfeldi are species of slime-mold beetles named after George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld, respectively, by two former Cornell entomologists, Dr Kelly B. Miller (now at Brigham Young University) and Dr Quentin D. Wheeler (now at the Natural History Museum). According to Miller and Wheeler, the naming of the beetles (who were three of 65 species to be named) was done in homage to the political figures.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/Stories/April05/slime-mold.Bush.Cheney.ssl.html

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, who named the beetles and wrote the recently published monograph describing the new slime-mold beetle species while a professor at Cornell.

[SteppingRazor]

1. I remember when this news happened. The funniest part...

is that the scientists actually _admired_ Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld and so wanted to honor them with the slime-beetle names. Hilarious!

[peekaloo]

2. I'm rather hoping this scientist has a really dry sense of humor.

Dung Beetles would be more apropos.