Some scientists want to stop naming new species after public figures, mainly because it can threaten an animal’s survival, but others say it can be a useful conservation tool, according to The Guardian.
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When Lady Gaga held a question-and-answer session on Reddit for her 2014 album release, there was one question that took the botanical world by storm: What’s it like to have a genus of ferns named after you? “pretty cool”she replied, “especially since it’s an asexual fern.”
The 19 species of ferns in the Gaga genus are found from Bolivia to the southwestern US and were named after the singer in part because of their GAGA gene sequence.
“All sexless, judgmentless,” she added. “How I wish I were.”
The American singer and actress is among the thousands of celebrities and personalities, real and fictional, after whom animals and plants have been named. Uma Thurman has a fringe-toed lizard in Arizona, scientifically described as Uma thurmanae in 2020. A shark found in the eastern Pacific was named after Jaws author Peter Benchley.
Former US President Barack Obama also has at least nine species named after him, including a bee and an Amazonian bird.
Enough organisms have now been named after Harry Potter characters, spells and objects to spawn their own Wikipedia page, including an Australian spider called Aragog and an ant species named after Lord Voldemort.
Naming species after celebrities, a dangerous practice
But scientists are increasingly questioning whether celebrity names really help conserve species. The debate comes amid growing controversy over historical names for plants and animals, some of which are associated with colonialism, racism and violence.
Celebrity connections have not always been helpful to the survival of the species. In the damp caves of Slovenia, the Adolf Hitler beetle has become a favorite of collectors of Nazi memorabilia – so much so that it threatens the insect’s survival. Last year, researchers proposed a name change to save it from extinction.
“The simple act of giving someone a name gives them reality in the human world. It’s always real in nature, of course. But (a name) allows people to go out and look for it.”says Dr. Sandra Knapp, botanist at the Natural History Museum and author of a book on the history of plant names.
Last year, the American Ornithological Society announced that dozens of offensive or exclusionary examples would be renamed – but other bodies, such as the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, ruled out changes. At the summit, botanists will consider a motion to rename South African plants with names derived from apartheid-era racial slurs.
Research has indicated that celebrity names can influence the attention a species receives from the public. An article earlier this year found that species named after celebrities received more Wikipedia clicks than close relatives that weren’t so named, with the strongest effects on invertebrates, amphibians and birds.
“It is the duty of researchers who describe new species to science to decide their names, rather than trying to manage in detail and be too prescriptive. But it is also a great responsibility”said Prof. Alexandre Antonelli, Director of Science at Kew
