Name a beetle!
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by
md68135
scientist
I immediately thought many of you might appreciate this:
http://www.amazonconservation.org/beetlecomp/index.htmlIn particular, my fellow name and language nerds @am.zooni and @HelenBennett57!
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md68135
scientist
Oops just realized some fine print. This seemed important to pass along given the diversity of our volunteers.
"To enter, you must be a legal resident of the (50) United States (U.S.), U.S. territories, the District of Columbia or Peru and at least 18 years of age."
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am.zooni
That's cool but isn't that kind of cheating the discovering scientist out of a perk? My understanding was that in addition to being quite an accomplishment to discover / identify a new species, it's a plum for the scientist who does that he/she can choose the name. Of course many names are based on the appearance or location where it lives or was found, but some are named after the discoverer or his/her friends. Like Testudo aubreii**
** fictional. If you look it up, use a general search engine rather than a science site
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HelenBennett57
in response to md68135's comment.
Oh well, based in the UK, never mind! Thanks for the thought.
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md68135
scientist
in response to am.zooni's comment.
Good questions. I am not sure of the motivation in this case or how many new species this person has described. I personally think it is a great way to raise awareness about biodiversity and how things get named. I suspect they think so too.
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am.zooni
Oh, I agree about raising awareness and getting the broader public interested. Perhaps the scientist has named so many species that he's (or she) run out of people to flatter! Or been promised participation in or even funding for some favored project. I'm just speculating that there must have been some kind of reward in addition to feeling altruistic for 'donating' this new beetle to the naming contest.
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