Two entomologists decided to name their new species of newly discovered Australian beetles Binburrum articuno, Binburrum background, i Binburrum zapdos, recovering the full circle of Pokémon which originally inspired the success of the video game series.
In the world of scientific research, those who work hard to offer new discoveries also come to call them, and in the case of the entomology of the University of Eastern New Mexico. Professor Dr. Darren Pollock and PhD from the National University of Australia. studying Yun Hsiao, this meant immortalizing his latest beetle discoveries using the names of three of Pokémon’s most famous and powerful birds.
“I met a Taiwanese entomology student by the name of Yun Hsiao about 5 or 6 years ago,” Pollock told the press at the University of Eastern New Mexico. in an interview last week. “When he first contacted me, it was very obvious that he knew his stuff (beetle) and that he was very excited about some of the same things I was.”
During his doctoral studies, Pollock discovered a new genus of beetle, which he renamed “BinburrumRecently, Hsiao discovered several beetles of the same genus while collecting specimens for his own work. The new beetles were so different that the two decided to collaborate on the documentation and naming of an article published in The Canadian Entomologist.
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“Choosing a name for a new species is not trivial; it must be different from any other species described, “Pollock said.” One way to make sure of that is to make a name that no one would have ever come up with. “
He went:
Yun says he was an aspiring Pokémon trainer when he was young, and therefore because of the rarity of specimens of the three new species, he suggested that we call them the three legendary Pokémon Bird. Naturally, I thought it was a fantastic idea and therefore the new species that were released to the world in 2020 are Binburrum articuno, Binburrum many i Binburrum zapdos – All with Hsiao and Pollock as authors. We already have plans to describe more new species of this genus that have appeared since we finished the paper, with perhaps more Pokémon names.
The big irony here is that the Pokémon the series was inspired in part by collecting insects. Co-founder and Game Freak Pokémon director Satoshi Tajiri it was famous for insects to grow that his colleagues nicknamed him “Mr. Inspired by his childhood love of collecting insects and his later passion for video games, Tajiri came up with the idea for a Game Boy game where players could collect creatures and fight. against them, six years later, Red Pokémon i Green they were released.
Now life mimics art and the names of its creatures are used to better catalog real-world wildlife.