Rare ant is first to be given a gender neutral species name

AN ANT has become the first animal species to be given a scientific name ending with “they” in recognition of its non-binary gender identity.

Until now any species named in honour of a person has a name ending with ‘-i’ for a man or ‘-ae’ for a woman.

However, a newly discovered insect found in the evergreen tropical forests of Ecuador’s Rio Canandé nature reserve has been dubbed Strumigenys ayersthey by Yale University taxonomist Dr Douglas Booher.

He picked the name, with R. E. M lead singer Michael Stipe, to honour a mutual friend, artist and activist Jeremy Ayers who died in 2016. They wrote the etymology section for the research article on the ant which was discovered in 2018 by Philipp Hoenle of the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany.

The pair said: “In contrast to the traditional

‘Language is dynamic and so should be the change in naming species – a basic language of science’

naming practices that identify individuals as one of two distinct genders, we have chosen a non-latinised portmanteau honouring the artist Jeremy Ayers and representing people who do not identify with conventional binary gender assignments.

“The ‘they’ recognises non-binary gender identifiers to reflect recent evolution in English pronoun use ... and address a more inclusive and expansive understanding of gender identification.”

The bug has a smooth and shining surface with long trap-jaw mandibles which make it unique among nearly a thousand species of its genus.

Dr Booher added: “Such a beautiful and rare animal was just the species to celebrate biological and human diversity ... language is dynamic and so should be the change in naming species – a basic language of science.” The research is published in the journal