WHEN you think of slime-mould beetles, the ones that spend their days scrabbling about in fungus-like goo, who springs to mind? Why, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, say two entomologists who have named three new species after the president and his cohorts.
Quentin Wheeler and Kelly Miller, formerly of Cornell University, New York, say the new monikers are intended as an honour. “We are conservative politically, and so we generally admire the principles that this administration upholds,” Wheeler told 91av. So Agathidium bushi, A. cheneyi and A. rumsfeldi it is.
Wheeler, now the keeper and head of entomology at London’s Natural History Museum, acknowledges the possibility that their act of homage could be misinterpreted. “There is a danger of that, but it wasn’t my intention,” he says, adding that he named a species after his wife. And there are other beetles crawling in the goo blissfully unaware that they now share a name with Darth Vader, Hernando Cortés and Pocahontas.
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“Nelson Mandela has a genus of sea slugs and a parasitic wasp that attacks agricultural pests named after him”
The names may not be permanently adopted if others are offended by them, though. Biological naming is governed by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Although there are no rules specifically banning scientists from naming species after political figures, the code does specify that names should not cause offence.
Andrew Polaszek, executive secretary of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) which oversees the code and is based at the Natural History Museum, London, believes there is a danger of that in this case. “Religion and politics should be kept out of naming of animals,” he says. “It goes really against the spirit of the code.” One of the few exceptions to this unwritten rule is Nelson Mandela, who has a genus of sea slugs and a parasitic wasp that attacks agricultural pests named after him.
So what happens if someone did find the names of the slime-mould beetles offensive? According to Polaszek, they would need to put their case to the ICZN. Its 25 commissioners then vote on whether to uphold the complaint. Polaszek does not seem keen to see this happen. “The nicest thing might be for it all to go away quietly,” he says.
But what about the president himself? Was he impressed? “I did mail reprints to the White House,” says Wheeler. But he still awaits a reply. 91av also contacted the White House press office to ask for the president’s reaction, but has so far received no response.
