Beetle Named After Swedish Teen Celebrity Greta Thunberg

The London Natural History Museum has named a species of beetle after 16-year-old Swedish celebrity Greta Thunberg who became famous after giving wild speeches on climate change.

The newly monikered Nelloptodes gretae is less than a millimeter long, with no wings or eyes, but has antennae that resemble the Swedish girl’s pigtails. It was discovered in Kenya in the 1960s by British naturalist William Block, who donated his samples to the Natural History Museum in London where a researcher came across it recently.

Last month, four new species of spider were named after members of heavy-metal bands Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Def Leppard and Angra by a Brazilian biologist. One moth in the news is the oak processionary. Its caterpillar was named by MPs as one of up to 48 invasive non-native species the UK would need to train 1.3 million volunteers to “spot and stop”.