It is quite common to name an invention or a discovery after the inventor or the discoverer. But who’d have thought celebrities had an ‘in’ as well?! According to Daily News Analysis (DNA), the newly discovered Conobregma Bradpitti from South Africa was named after the Hollywood actor Brad Pitt.
Image courtesy: www.sci-news.com
The tiny species of parasitoid wasp measures all of 2 millimetres in length and lays eggs in the caterpillars which the merging larvae later eat from inside out. Although this may remind you of a gory scene from a B-grade horror film, these parasitoid wasps are quite valuable in agriculture as they help control other pest species’ population.
The lead researcher Buntika A. Butcher from the Chulalongkorn University in Thailand spent hours studying under Brad Pitt’s poster. And when it was time to name the species, all she had to do was look up!
Another species belonging to the parasitoid wasp called Facitorus Nasseri was simultaneously discovered by researchers at the University of Calicut in Kerala.
What we are afraid of is that it could be more than just ‘a fan naming a wasp after her idol’. The resemblance is too eerie. We demand a DNA test!
