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Scientists Name Beetle After Colbert

Researchers honor comedian on his birthday

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted May 8, 2009 10:49 AM CDT

(Newser) – Scientists who bestowed names of Bush administration officials on a trio of bugs have named a new Venezuelan beetle after Stephen Colbert, the Washington Times reports. "Last year, Stephen shamelessly asked the science community to name something cooler than a spider to honor him," said one of the scientists. "His top choices were a giant ant or a laser lion."

“While those would be cool species to discover, our research involves beetles, and they are way cooler than a spider any day,” he continued. Agaporomorphus colberti "belongs to a species group...based on the common presence of a pair of rows of fine setae on the dorsal surface of the male's reproductive organs,” says a proclamation announcing the name. The researchers sent a framed image of the beetle to Colbert for his 45th birthday.

In this Nov. 20, 2008 file photo, Stephen Colbert arrives for a taping of The Late Show with David Letterman in New York.  Colbert, whose mock presidential campaign could not get off the ground, is succeeding at a much higher altitude electoral pursuit: getting the new room of the international...
In this Nov. 20, 2008 file photo, Stephen Colbert arrives for a taping of "The Late Show with David Letterman" in New York. Colbert, whose mock presidential campaign could not get off the ground, is...   (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)
In this image released by the New Yorker Festival, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, is shown during an interview at The 2008 New Yorker Festival, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008, in New York.
In this image released by the New Yorker Festival, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," is shown during an interview at The 2008 New Yorker Festival, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008, in New...   (AP Photo/The New Yorker Festival, Alex Oliveira)
Agaporomorphus colberti
Agaporomorphus colberti   (© Copyright Arizona Board of Regents)
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