werz
05-01-2005, 04:09 PM
Slimy tribute to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld causes ructions
AFP
April 22, 2005
INSECT experts are at odds over plans to name three newly-discovered species of slime-mould beetle after US President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld.
The guardians of animal nomenclature fear the slimy monikers may be a godsend for satirists, New Scientist reports.
The names Agathidium bushi, A. cheneyi and A. rumsfeldi have been proposed by a pair of insect experts.
They insist they are both conservative politically and admire the Bush administration, and that this was the best way to honour Bush and his two lieutenants.
One of the discoverers, Quentin Wheeler, the keeper and head of entomology at London's Natural History Museum acknowledged that the homage could be misinterpreted.
"There is a danger of that, but it wasn't my intention," he told New Scientist, adding that he had already named a beetle species after his wife.
The London-based International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is worried, though.
The eyebrows of its executive secretary, Andrew Polaszek, beetle at the idea of naming three US leaders after creatures that spend their days scrabbling around in festering goo.
AFP
April 22, 2005
INSECT experts are at odds over plans to name three newly-discovered species of slime-mould beetle after US President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld.
The guardians of animal nomenclature fear the slimy monikers may be a godsend for satirists, New Scientist reports.
The names Agathidium bushi, A. cheneyi and A. rumsfeldi have been proposed by a pair of insect experts.
They insist they are both conservative politically and admire the Bush administration, and that this was the best way to honour Bush and his two lieutenants.
One of the discoverers, Quentin Wheeler, the keeper and head of entomology at London's Natural History Museum acknowledged that the homage could be misinterpreted.
"There is a danger of that, but it wasn't my intention," he told New Scientist, adding that he had already named a beetle species after his wife.
The London-based International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is worried, though.
The eyebrows of its executive secretary, Andrew Polaszek, beetle at the idea of naming three US leaders after creatures that spend their days scrabbling around in festering goo.