Scientist Names Slime Beetle After Singer

    Print |  Email More
    When researchers from the University of New Mexico and Arizona State identified dozens of new species of slime-mold beetles in 2005, they probably didn't mean to flatter the men for whom they named the bugs after, among them President Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Darth Vader.

    But ASU's Quentin Wheeler definitely intended the naming of his latest find as a form (however peculiar) of sincere appreciation. At a recent Roy Orbison tribute at the university, the entomologist presented Barbara Orbison, the widow of the late, majestically downhearted "Big O," with a Warhol-style print of the newly discovered whirligig beetle of India. Wheeler and his colleagues named the insect Orectochilus orbisonorum after the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and his wife.

    The water beetle, called a whirligig for its habit of moving in circles when alarmed ('Running Scared'?), was named for the singer because its white underbelly gives it an appearance of wearing a tuxedo. Orbison was famously partial to wearing black. The bug also has "divided" eyes that allow it to see above and below water simultaneously, giving it an appearance of having four eyes.

    "I have never seen an honor like that," said Mrs. Orbison, diplomatically.

    Next: Rockers Miscast as Fest Headliners

    Add your comments

    If you are posting a comment for the first time, please enter your name and email address in the fields above. Your name will be displayed with your comment. Your email address will never be displayed.

    Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Off-topic, promotional or otherwise inappropriateinappropriate comments will be removed.

    When you enter your name and email address for the first time, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, as well as a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.