A moth species discovered eight years ago at the White Sand National Monument in New Mexico will soon be given a name following an auction on eBay. The auction will give the winning bidder the right to name the species with the help of entomologist Eric H. Metzler. Current bidding is at $7,100 (£4,581) with two more days to go.
According to the BBC, Metzler hoped to raise funds for the Western National Parks Association and thought the auction a good avenue to help the organisation. The organisation helped finance Metzler's research.
"I am not a rich man and I don't have a lot of money to give to charity, but this is the way I could give them money in the form of service."
"I could use my brains to help them."
Although the naming process will allow room for creativity, it will comply with the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature guidelines. The name chosen by the winning bidder will be translated to Latin and will go through the approval process.
According to an earlier report by the Daily Mail, Swedish botanist and physician Carolus Linnaeus was the first to develop the system of taxonomy in the 18th century. This system, which assigns a two-part Latin name to each organism, has been used to develop their description, name and classification.
Western National Parks Association development manager Amy Reichgott encourages all interested bidders, "When are you ever going to have the opportunity to have your own moth named after you?'"
In the past, quite a few species have been named after famous celebrities and individuals. Among these is the Jaggermeryx naida, an extinct hippopotamus which fossilised remains displayed a jaw area that bore remarkable similarity to Mick Jagger.
Researchers in Australia in 2012 named a Queensland horse fly species as Scaptia beyonceae after Beyonce because of the horse fly's curved backside.
