科学家以青少年气候活动家格丽塔·纽伦堡的名字命名了一种新发现的甲虫。
棕色昆虫，被称为Nelloptodes gretae很小——长度不到1毫米——没有眼睛和翅膀。
伦敦自然历史博物馆的研究员迈克尔·达比在杂志上描述了这种新甲虫昆虫学家月刊他说，他选择这个名字是为了向纽伦堡致敬，去年他开始在周五放假，在瑞典议会外抗议。
这些单独的罢工引发了一场呼吁采取气候行动的全球运动，现在全世界有数百万人参与其中。
达比在一份声明中说:“我选择这个名字是因为我对这位年轻活动家的工作印象深刻，我想感谢她在提高对环境问题的认识方面做出的杰出贡献。”。
达比在自然历史博物馆的精神收藏中发现了甲虫，里面有超过2200万个动物标本。
尽管达比最近才在收藏品中发现甲虫，但标本是由在内罗毕进行研究的科学家威廉·布洛克在20世纪60年代收集的。
在调查期间，布洛克收集了多份土壤和落叶样本，并最终于1978年捐赠给博物馆。
“我很高兴我们公布了一个物种名称，它承认了格里塔和她的支持者所做的一切，”安德鲁·韦克汉姆·道森编辑昆虫学家月刊，在声明中说。
N.葛蕾朵属于动物科，被称为小甲虫，由大约600种物种组成，所有这些物种都是非常小的甲虫。事实上，这个群体包括地球上已知的一些最小的昆虫。
科学家已经追溯了这个家族中一些成员的起源——通俗地说就是“羽甲虫”——可以追溯到1.25亿年前。
最新的发现是博物馆藏品中新物种的又一次发现。例如，上个月，科学家宣布他们已经确定了一种新的鳄鱼在分析了几个国家博物馆保存的标本后。
新描述的甲虫种类。伦敦自然历史博物馆
该博物馆的马克斯·巴克利在声明中说:“在世界各地以及自然历史博物馆的大量收藏品中，可能还有数百种令人兴奋的新物种有待发现。”。
“这种甲虫的名字尤其令人心酸，因为生物多样性的丧失，很可能在科学家给它们命名之前，未被发现的物种就一直在消失。因此，用一个努力捍卫自然世界和保护脆弱物种的人来命名一个最新的发现是恰当的，”他说。
现代生物多样性的持续丧失被一些科学家描述为地球第六次大规模灭绝危机，物种正在以令人担忧的速度消失。A里程碑式的联合国报告最近警告说，由于人类压力和气候变化，世界上有一百万种物种面临灭绝的危险。
GRETA THUNBERG HAS TINY NEW SPECIES OF WINGLESS BEETLE NAMED AFTER HER
Scientists have named a newly identified species of beetle after teen climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The brown-colored insect, dubbed Nelloptodes gretae is tiny—measuring less than 1 millimeter in length—and has no eyes or wings.
Michael Darby, a researcher from the Natural History Museum in London, who described the new beetle in the journal Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, said he settled on the name as a way to pay tribute to Thunberg—who began taking time off school on Fridays to protest outside Swedish parliament last year.
These solitary strikes sparked a global movement calling for climate action, which now involves millions of people around the world.
"I chose this name as I am immensely impressed with the work of this young campaigner and wanted to acknowledge her outstanding contribution in raising awareness of environmental issues," Darby said in a statement.
Darby found the beetle in the Natural History Museum's Spirit Collection, which contains more than 22 million animal specimens.
Although Darby only recently discovered the beetle in the collections, the specimen was collected in the 1960s by scientist William Block, who was conducting research in Nairobi.
During his investigations, Block had gathered multiple samples of soil and leaf litter, which he eventually donated to the museum in 1978.
"I am delighted that we have published a species name that acknowledges all that Greta and her supporters have done," Andrew Wakeham-Dawson, editor of Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, said in the statement.
N. gretae belongs to the animal family known as Ptiliidae, which consists of around 600 species—all of which are very tiny beetles. In fact, this group includes some of the smallest known insects on Earth.
Scientists have traced the origins of some members of this family—colloquially known as "feathering beetles"—as far back as 125 million years.
The latest finding is yet another incidence of a new species being identified in a museum collection. Last month, for example, scientists announced that they had identified a new species of crocodile after analyzing specimens kept at museums in several countries.
The newly described beetle species Nelloptodes gretae.NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON
"There are likely hundreds of exciting new species still to be discovered around the world as well as in the vast collections of the Natural History Museum," Max Barclay from the museum said in the statement.
"The name of this beetle is particularly poignant since 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 said.
The modern, ongoing loss of biodiversity has been described by some scientists as the Earth's sixth mass extinction crisis, with species are disappearing at a worryingly fast rate. A landmark U.N. report recently warned that one million species around the world are at risk of disappearing due to human pressures and climate change.
