{"id":16617,"date":"2022-05-08T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2022-05-08T06:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=46577"},"modified":"2022-05-08T08:24:17","modified_gmt":"2022-05-08T06:24:17","slug":"animals-and-plants-named-after-sir-david-attenborough","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/animals-and-plants-named-after-sir-david-attenborough\/","title":{"rendered":"Animals and plants named after Sir David Attenborough"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By James Fair\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 08 May 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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One of the highest honours in the natural history world is to have a species named after you, often to honour your work. Some species are named after their characteristics \u2013 colours, size, behaviour, but some taxonomists name species after loved ones, some after fictional characters (such as the weevil Trigonopterus<\/em> ewok<\/em>, named after the Star Wars<\/em> species\u00a0in 2021<\/a>), and some species are named after celebrities (such as the millipede\u00a0Nannaria swiftae, <\/em>named after Taylor Swift in 2022<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Prolific taxonomists usually end up using in a combination of name sources, as they have so many species to describe and name.<\/p>\n

It will come as no surprise then that Sir David Attenborough<\/a>, the world\u2019s most famous natural history presenter and conservationist, has numerous species named after him! From a Madagascan dragonfly named as a present for his 90th birthday, to a tree with beautiful flowers, there\u2019s a wide range of animals and plants now bearing the Attenborough name, with the scientists usually describing him as an inspiration and \u201ca childhood hero\u201d.<\/p>\n

In most cases, it is the specific name is derived from Attenborough\u2019s name. However for a few species, a colourful semislug in Australia, a flowering plant in Gabon and an extinct marine reptile, it is the genus name.<\/p>\n

Sir David Attenborough joined the palaeontologist and author Richard Fortey to discuss naming species and the importance of taxonomy in a talk for the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature at the Natural History Museum:<\/p>\n

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