Creative taxonomy — it ’s what materialize when scientists discover an as - yet unnamed metal money and find some way to connect it to a person , place , or thing . Sometimes that individual / office / thing is far-famed . Sometimes it isn’t . Sometimes the connections between the two make utter sentiency . Other timesthe connections are more tenuous . So when we heard the intelligence that a prehistoric lizard had latterly been named after President Barack Obama ( scientific name : Obamadon gracilis ) , we were evidently keen to find out out the reasoning for it .
https://gizmodo.com/an-entire-genus-of-fern-was-just-named-after-lady-gaga-5954645
https://gizmodo.com/what-are-the-very-punniest-scientific-names-5833651
Can you guess ? You ’re not going to hazard .
harmonize to researchers Nicholas R. Longrich , Bhart - Anjan S. Bhullar and Jacques A. Gauthier — who describe the newly describe species inthe latest proceeds of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — the Obamadon is so named because of its tooth . Of course . The lounge lizard is consider to have last out at the last of the Cretaceous , follow thedevastating Chixculub asteroid strike .
Write the researcher :
It is a small polyglyphanodontian secernate by marvelous , slender teeth with heavy fundamental cusps disunite from humble accessory cusps by linguistic vallecula . The genus name pertain to Barack Hussein Obama and odon ( tooth in Greek ) , in reference to the marvelous , straight tooth , and the manner in which Mr Obama has act as a role model of adept oral hygiene for the world .
Longrich , who led the study , blend on to clarify : “ No one should impute any political meaning to the decision to name the extinct lounge lizard after the recently re - elect U.S. chairwoman . We ’re just having sport with taxonomy . ”
[ Spotted onThe Mary Sue ]
BiologyCretaceousSciencetaxonomy
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tidings from the time to come , render to your present tense .
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