Cronyism and nepotism rife in naming rights
Biologists are naming newly found critters after their pets, their favourite celebrities, their mentors and their relatives, a study has found.
The parasitic worm Constrictoanchoratus lemmy, for example, was named in honour of Lemmy Kilmister, the late leader of the heavy metal band Motorhead,
‘‘of whom the senior author is a big fan’’.
Rhabdias glaurungi was named after the dragon Glaurung in JRR Tolkien’s The Silmarillion.
Another worm was named for a ‘‘somewhat frightening’’ encounter with saltwater crocodiles as the scientists collected samples at night in Buffalo Creek, Australia.
A different worm was given the Latin name territo (frightening) because numerous sharks patrolled the reefs where the species was recovered.
One was named after Corbata, the welsh terrier dog of the first author, and Microcotyle visa refers to the joy of the first author when she obtained a visa after a long period of uncertainty.
More seriously, the study found a gap in naming new species after women scientists, wrote Dr Robert Poulin and colleagues Cameron McDougall and Dr Bronwen Presswell of Otago University.
They looked at 2891 parasitic worms – also called helminths – discovered and named in the 2000-2020 period.
Of the 596 helminths named after eminent biologists, just 111 (18.6%) were named after women. The gender bias showed no evidence of improvement over the 20 years, and there was ‘‘not a shortage of excellent female taxonomists’’, they wrote.
Moreover, some eminent male scientists were repeatedly honoured.
‘‘In my opinion, if you’ve had one or two or three species named after you, that’s probably enough to immortalise your name,’’ Poulin said. ‘‘Do you really need five or 10? Probably not,’’ he said in an interview.
‘‘This is where I think there is some room to spread the recognition a bit more evenly across the huge scientific community and achieve better representation,’’ he said.
The researchers also found the tendency to name species after a ‘‘mentor, close personal friend or relative has increased in the past two decades’’. They called this cronyism and nepotism.
Scientists who think they’ve discovered a unique species generally describe its shape, distinguishing features, colour and, most convincingly these days, DNA, in a paper submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.
As part of that process, they may propose a scientific name that’s double-barrelled and Latinised. Cabbage trees, for example, are formally known as Cordyline australis.
Cordyline is the genus, australis the unique species.
Naming the species is where scientists have discretion.
Those who honour a living person do not need permission, Poulin said, although that’s considered polite.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has at least three species named after her, including a wē ta, a barnacle lichen and an ant found only in Oman.
Poulin, who is eminent, is immortalised in the names of six helminths. In two cases, he didn’t know for years that he’d been recognised. (His wife commissions Dunedin artists to create artworks of ‘‘his’’ worms.)
‘‘I would be happy with just one and the other five could have been named for other people who have made great contributions but whose names will not be immortalised this way,’’ he said.
Best practice, the trio wrote, was to reference the species’ shape, host or location – information that tells us ‘‘something relevant to the species’’.
By that standard, Emirhamphiculus krabsi might be OK. It has a similar body shape to Mr Krabs from the TV series SpongeBob SquarePants.