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Artist's rendering of a »Syllipsimopodi bideni«: the cephalopod lived 330 million years ago
Photo:
Christopher Whalen / dpa
Scientists have named a vampire squid fossil after US President Joe Biden.
The approximately 328-million-year-old fossil discovered in the US state of Montana was donated to the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada in 1988 and then lay in a drawer there for a long time, the New York Times reported, citing Christopher Whalen, a paleontologist at American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Along with his colleague Neil Landman, Whalen named the fossil, about four inches long, "Syllipsimopodi bideni" to commemorate Biden's presidency and "because they were encouraged by his plans to address climate change and advance scientific research." Whalen was quoted.
The White House, writes the New York Times, did not comment when asked.
According to his own statements, scientist Whalen accidentally came across the fossil in the museum in Canada, examined it more closely – and saw that there were even suction cups on the animal's ten arms.
The fossil is of a previously unknown species — the oldest of a group of animals that includes octopus and vampire squid, Whalen and Landman argued in an article in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
If you want to read more about the little creature, here is Whalen and Landman's article: Fossil coleoid cephalopod from the Mississippian Bear Gulch deposit sheds light on early vampyropod evolution
Animal species have also been named after previous US Presidents such as Donald Trump or Barack Obama:
Dermophis donaldtrumpi is a species of amphibian, Neopalpa donaldtrumpi is a moth, and Tetragramma donaldtrumpi is a fossil sea urchin.
Barack Obama even gave his name to nine plants and animals during his tenure, including a species of spider (Aptostichus barackobamai), two fish, an extinct lizard and a lichen.
At first glance, no choice seems really flattering.
But scientists probably have a different view of the protagonists of their research than the rest of the world.
You hardly ever find a comment from the honored President.