A Canadian professor of etymology and his colleague, a Taiwanese PhD candidate from our own Australian National University has named newly discovered beetles after three legendary Pokémon; Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos. The beetles are named Binburrum articuno, Binburrum moltres and Binburrum zapdos.
So, how did this all come about? Dr Darren Pollock of Eastern New Mexico University discovered a new genus of beetles from Australia, which he had named “Binburrum” in 1995. About a year ago, PhD student, Yun Hsiao began a PhD position associated with the Australian National Insect Collection in Canberra and identified several specimens of Binburrum that had not yet been documented. Dr Pollock and Hsiao agreed to collaborate on a paper describing the new species and documenting their variation. During the process, they decided to name the distinct specimens and found themselves inspired by the rarity of the specimens.
In an interview with ENMU, Dr Pollock explains the naming process and the importance of coming up with a unique name for a new species:
“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. 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,” said Dr Pollock, “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 – all with Hsiao and Pollock as the authors. We already have plans to describe more new species of this genus that have turned up since we finished the paper, with perhaps more Pokémon names,” he continued.
Funnily enough, this isn’t the first time Pokémon has landed a place in the world of biology; in 2016, Canadian PhD student Spencer K. Mockton named a new species of stem-nesting bee after Charizard, due to the insect’s orange hue. In my opinion, this isn’t quite as catchy as Scaptia beyonceae, the species of horse fly that was named after Queen Bey after it was discovered in North-East Queensland with a striking gold abdomen that inspired its name. I’m not much of an entomologist myself and I tend to panic whenever I see an insect bigger than a five-cent piece but if I were to name a new species, I think I’d be tempted to go with something from the X-Files or Game of Thrones.
