http://www.physorg.com/news9161.html

The guardians of animal nomenclature had mixed feelings over a
proposal to name three newly-discovered species of slime-mould beetle
after US President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. A pair of insect experts reserved
the names Agathidium bushi, Agathidium cheneyi and Agathidium
rumsfeldi for their latest creepy-crawlies.

Usual Suspect wrote:

http://www.physorg.com/news9161.html

The guardians of animal nomenclature had mixed feelings over a
proposal to name three newly-discovered species of slime-mould beetle
after US President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. A pair of insect experts reserved
the names Agathidium bushi, Agathidium cheneyi and Agathidium
rumsfeldi for their latest creepy-crawlies.

The beetles deserve more respect than that.

John

Usual Suspect wrote:

http://www.physorg.com/news9161.html

The guardians of animal nomenclature had mixed feelings over a
proposal to name three newly-discovered species of slime-mould beetle

What pray tell is a "slime-mould beetle"? I did not realize that slime
moulds were so prevalent that there would be multiple species of beetle
adapted to interact with them in some way.

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On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 09:44:05 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, "J.
Clarke" quickly quoth:

Usual Suspect wrote:

http://www.physorg.com/news9161.html

The guardians of animal nomenclature had mixed feelings over a
proposal to name three newly-discovered species of slime-mould beetle

What pray tell is a "slime-mould beetle"?

What, you don't spend long days in the muck looking for new lifeforms?



I did not realize that slime moulds were so prevalent that there would
be multiple species of beetle adapted to interact with them in some way.

Of course you didn't. You (like most of us) are probably unaware of
the names of 99.999% of insect life on the planet. There are tens of
millions of them, most under-studied and many unidentified.

I feel that it's offensive to slime mold (and beetles in general) to
name them after this rotten lot, and I used to be a Republican.

-
The only reason I would take up exercising is || http://diversify.com
so that I could hear heavy breathing again. || Programmed Websites

In article , Larry Jaques says...

I did not realize that slime mo[]lds were so prevalent that there would
be multiple species of beetle adapted to interact with them in some way.

Of course you didn't. You (like most of us) are probably unaware of
the names of 99.999% of insect life on the planet. There are tens of
millions of them, most under-studied and many unidentified.

Insects are far and away the catagory that contains the most
species. Most of them, as noted, have yet to be identified and
studied. Because of the variety, and also because of the
specialization that occurs, insects are prime candidates when
one wants to study things like, how speciation actually occurs.

If you talk to an entomologist, you will find somebody who works
with natural selection and evolution the same way we work with
bar stock, lathes, and milling machines. It's pretty much the
front line of exploring how evolution works.

I feel that it's offensive to slime mold (and beetles in general) to
name them after this rotten lot, and I used to be a Republican.

Ah, those biologists. If you want to have a good party, get some
of those folks together and liquor them up. Quite the opposite of
the physical science folks.

True story: the American Physical Society had their annual meeting
in Las Vegas one march. After it was concluded, the APS was told
in no uncertain terms to never ever come back to that town again.
SEems like the physics folks didn't spend any money on gambling,
shows, hookers, or resturants. Basically a bunch of deadbeats.

The other true story to match involved a biological field station that
shall remain nameless

http://research.amnh.org/swrs/index.htm

wherein a former boss there was having a substantial difficulty with
the local cattlemen. There was a bunch of friction and this was
bad because a great deal of biological research was carried out on
their land, with their permission. So it was decided to throw a
party to allow the researchers and local landowners a chance to meet
each other and socialize.

This basically lasted a day and a half and involved a large amount
of alcohol. At the end of the time it was decided that maybe the
researchers and landowners really weren't all that far apart and
most folks there were pretty friendly once you got to know them.
Good relations remain in the area to this day.

Those crazy cornell guys. No knowing who they're gonna name a new
species after.

That's how it works of course. If you describe a new one, it's up
to you to create the name.

Jim


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