Beetle named after climate change activist Greta Thunberg as a tribute

Scientists at the Natural History Museum in London have officially called the endangered beetle Nelloptodes gretae after the young Swede for her "outstanding contribution' to raising awareness of climate change".

The beetle had no name beforehand, despite being discovered 50 years ago The arthropod bears little resemblance to its now namesake, however, it does have long antennae on its head which resemble pigtails like those the campaigner sports.

Scientist Dr Michael Darby said he chose the name because he was "immensely impressed" by the Swedish teenager's environmental campaigning.

The newly described species was originally collected in Kenya between 1964 and1965 by an entomologist called William Brock. He took samples of soil from around east Africa which up until now have been stored in the Museum's collections.

Dr Darby went through these samples using high powered microscopes to see and then take photos of the tiny beetles that were caught up with the substrate.

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He has been able to describe not only the new species named after Ms Thunberg but also a new genus and eight other new species of Ptiliidae in the same sample.

Ms Thunberg has risen to fame for fearless, straight-talking environmental campaign which has seen her in front of world governments and TV screens despite only being 16.

She first came to be known for her 'skolstrejk för klimatet' (school strike for the climate) demonstration in 2018. Instead of attending school, the then 15 year old protested outside the Swedish parliament about the lack of action politicians were taking to tackle the climate crisis.

Since then the movement has resulted in some of the largest climate strikes in world history, gathering millions of protesters in over 150 countries worldwide to increase pressure on those in power to act.

She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, which was later awarded to Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

By naming the beetle after Ms Thunberg, Dr Darby said, he "wanted to acknowledge her outstanding contribution in raising awareness of environmental issues.

"I suspect that this could very well be the first time a species has been named after Greta," said Dr Darby. " I don't know of any other beetle named after her, that's for sure.

"I'm really a great fan of Greta. She is a great advocate for saving the planet and she is amazing at doing it, so I thought that this was a good opportunity to recognise that.

"These beetles are so very small that my wife has described them as being like animated full stops," said Dr Darby. "But actually many are a whole lot smaller than a full stop.

"I'd also like to stress that I've not named this species after Greta because it is small, it's just that this is the group that I work on."

The beetle has now been featured in Entomologist's Monthly Magazine.

READ MORE: Greta Thunberg makes impassioned plea for climate action at UN

They are usually found in the leaf litter and soil, feeding on fungal hyphae and spores. While there are a few dozen species known from the UK alone, in the tropics their diversity is poorly understood.

"The family that I work on are some of the smallest known free-living creatures," explained Dr Darby. "They are not parasitic and are not living inside other creatures. Few of them measure more than a millimetre long."

It is not the done thing for scientists to name newly discovered species after themselves, but they have the right to choose, and Dr Darby has named several species of Ptiliidae after prominent people, including one for Sir David Attenborough.

There's also a parasite named after Bob Marley (Gnathia marleyi), a genus of fish called after Richard Dawkins (Dawkinsia) and a golden-haired fly named after Beyonce (Scaptia beyonceae).

In December, a blind and burrowing amphibian was officially named Dermophis donaldtrumpi, in recognition of the US president’s climate change denial.

The name was chosen by the boss of EnviroBuild, a sustainable building materials company, who paid $25,000 (£19,800) at an auction for the right. The small legless creature was found in Panama and EnviroBuild’s Aidan Bell said its ability to bury its head in the ground matched Donald Trump’s approach to global warming.

And there is the Prince Charles frog. The tree frog was named after his Royal Highness in 2012 in recognition of his charity work to protect their rainforest habit. Hyloscirtus princecharlesi, or the Prince Charles stream tree frog, was first discovered in Ecuador in 2008.

Dr Max Barclay, the museum's senior curator in charge of beetles, said the name for the Greta beetle was apt because "it is likely that undiscovered species are being lost all the time, before scientists have even named them, because of biodiversity loss".

"So it is appropriate to name one of the newest discoveries after someone who has worked so hard to champion the natural world and protect vulnerable species," he added.