New specie of beetle named after Greta Thunberg

A new species of beetle will be officially named today (Friday 25^th October 2019) in honour of the environmental activist, Greta Thunberg.

Nelloptodes gretae, which is less than 1mm long and has no eyes or wings, belongs to the Ptiliidae family of beetles which includes some of the smallest insects in the world.

The beetle was first collected in samples of soil and leaf litter from Nairobi, Kenya by Dr. William C. Block in the 1960s. Dr. Block’s collection was donated to the Natural History Museum, London in 1978.

Dr. Michael Darby, a Scientific Associate at the Natural History Museum, who has named the beetle, said: ‘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.”

The beetle was found by Dr. Darby whilst studying in the Natural History Museum’s Spirit Collection, which houses over 22 million animal specimens.