President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard “Dick” Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld were paid the ultimate scientific homage by a group of retired Cornell University entomologists: they get to have slime-mold beetle species named after them. (Hat tip to Mrs. TD.)
Two of the three named species, Agathidium cheneyi Miller and Wheeler and Agathidium rumsfeldi Miller and Wheeler, are found predominantly in Mexico, while the third, Agathidium bushi Miller and Wheeler, is, appropriately enough, found in such Red States as Ohio and North Carolina. The beetles feed on slime mold (some kind of fungi type… stuff), and it’s not what you think: the scientists did this as an homage to Messrs. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, admiring them for their kick-ass-ness.
A famous naturalist was quoted as saying that in all his years as a naturalist, he learned that God really had a thing for beetles (there are thousands of varieties of them…)
Well, three of them will go down in the annals of slime-mold beetles, as named after three Americans for whom I certainly have no problem associating with slime-mold sucking insects. America she’s a great country.
tdog
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