Meet the Beatle: first insect named after band

THE plan has finally come together: a beetle has been named after The Beatles for the first time.

Dutch researchers have announced that a new species discovered in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark during a “citizen science expedition” has been officially named after the British band.

Taxon Expeditions, a group of scientists which takes members of the public on scientific trips, has appealed on social media for someone to “please alert Mr Paul Mccartney” that Ptomaphagus thebeatles has now entered in receiving this honour, according to the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where biologist Joris Koene, one of the discovery team, works.

“Insects are often named after famous musicians,” said the university in a press release.

“A treehopper has been named after Lady Gaga, a fly after Beyoncé and four types of damselfly have been named after all Queen band members.

“Strangely, a beetle has never been named after The Beatles. This has now been rectified in a new publication in the scientific journal Contributions to Zoology.” Although the name may seem rather obvious, researchers came up with the idea because the new beetle, which is just 2mm long, was discovered at a part of Amsterdam’s Vondelpark near its Hilton hotel.

This was the location where John Lennon and Yoko Ono famously did a bed-in for peace protest 51 years ago – an event which brought the world’s press to Amsterdam and which was marked by a special exhibition of photographs last year.

This is not the first discovery made in the central Amsterdam park by Taxon Expeditions. It has also found a new type of parasitic wasp, the Aphaereta vondelparkensis and was founded by researchers from the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre.