D
ark Beetle of the Sith
February 02, 2006
[ Dark Beetle of the Sith ]If you picked up a slimy mushroom and saw an unusual black beetle snacking on it, you could be uncovering a bit of the dark side without even realizing it! Meet Agathidium vaderi -- one of the many bugs on our own planet that are named after Star Wars characters thanks to insect taxonomists who have a soft spot for the likes of Darth Vader, Chewbacca and other characters in the saga.
As the Head of the Department of Entomology at the Natural History Museum of London, Dr. Quentin D. Wheeler honored the Dark Lord of the Sith by naming his discovered beetle Agathidium vaderi after Darth Vader himself.
Wheeler works in the entomology department as an insect taxonomist, which is a scientist who explores species diversity (how many different kinds of insects), reconstructs evolutionary history (how an insect came to be), and provides classifications and names for Earth's species, or kinds, of insects. "I work for the Natural History Museum, London, where I have the coolest title of any entomologist: Keeper of Entomology," Wheeler smiles. "As Keeper, I am in charge of the best insect collection in the world and a staff of about 130 scientists who conduct research and curate the collections."
The Natural History Museum has 28 million insect specimens representing about 660,000 different species of insects and related arthropods. They also have more than 250,000 type specimens which include the individual bugs that were the first specimens ever described for those species.
[ Dark Beetle of the Sith ] As he was conducting research on slime-mold feeding beetles, he discovered one that reminded him of the famous suit Darth Vader wore during the original trilogy. "I was doing field work in the southern Appalachian Mountains in the 1980s when the initial impact of the original trilogy was felt," Wheeler explains. "The shape and texture of the head reminded me of Darth Vader's helmet and the connection seemed obvious. The head of Agathidium vaderi is very broad, smooth and shiny and the eyes are reduced to mere slits on the front of the head, so small and narrow they are not even visible from above. It was this unusual form of the head that suggested a comparison with Vader's helmet."
Wheeler first found a related unknown species of Agathidium in the 1970s while studying specimens of beetles at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The museum had collected the specimens, but they had never been recognized as a new species. "They were remarkable as the first 'microphthalmic' (small-eyed) members of Agathidium ever seen in North America," Wheeler recalls. "I was an undergraduate student at the time and made a collecting trip to the mountains of western North Carolina to see if I could rediscover it. I did and along with it several additional new species. Several of them were blind or microphthalmic and flightless, also unusual. Because these beetles eat slime-molds they typically fly around in search of hosts; to be flightless is a risky strategy, except perhaps in places like high elevation Appalachia where there is a lot rainfall in the spring and fall."
But before Wheeler could name the newly-discovered beetle after his favorite Star Wars character, he had to follow a lengthy process that all insect taxonomists must follow in order for an insect to be properly titled. There are international rules that are accepted for naming new species of insects and animals. A "type specimen" must be designated and a formal description published and made available, and there are a lot of different methods for making up Latin (or Latinized) names.
"A patronym or name in honor of someone ends in '-i' if it is a man; '-ae' if it is a female," Wheeler explains. Thus vaderi for Vader and marae for my wife Marie -- pronounced the same, and used for another species of Agathidium. If it is named for a husband and wife it would end in '-orum' such as smithorum. Place names often end in '-ensis' (for example, carolinensis)."
The most difficult part is recognizing a new species when you see one. Taxonomists are familiar with all the species that have been described in a particular group such as Agathidium so they don't accidentally re-describe an existing species. These scientists must also learn the important characteristics, including a large number of body parts that are used to distinguish the species. "In my case, this meant learning about 50 North American Agathidium species named since the early nineteenth century and dealing with quite a few other names that were not valid," Wheeler says. "No two species in the same genus can have the same species name so you need to know all the names given to Agathidium beetles anywhere in the world since 1758. That date marks the beginning of modern names for animals by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linne who, by the way, was so fond of Latinization he Latinized his own name in publications as Caroli Linnaeus."
Since Wheeler successfully did his research and was permitted to name the new beetle Agathidium vaderi, he's noticed that other scientists and bug enthusiasts approved of his Star Wars tribute. "The reaction has been positive," Wheeler says. "I had one discussion about vaderi over a coffee in which we were wondering whether the word would have immediate meaning to someone a hundred years from now. Our consensus was yes. Vader is such an icon of evil that we believe he will still be a part of popular culture far into the future."
Being a fan of the saga, as well as an entomologist, Wheeler isn't surprised that science fiction and fantasy filmmakers are inspired by insects for characters and creepy plots. "Insects are the most successful and diverse group of living things on our planet," Wheeler says. "There are few things one can do on land, in the air, or in fresh water that insects have not mastered, often being the first. When you think of flying for example, insects took to the skies 200 million years before any other animals such as birds, bats or even pterodactyls. Also because insects have their skeletons on the outside of their bodies they have evolved the most remarkable variations in shapes and structures and they seem alien to us, either fascinating or repulsing people. If you want the weird or the most extreme example of just about anything you can imagine, check out the insects and you are likely to find it."
If you would like to learn more about Agathidium vaderi, other insects and careers in entomology, please visit your local or school library for more detailed books.
