Ruth Bader Ginsburg – legendary Supreme Court Justice turned meme – now has the distinct honor of having a new species of praying mantis named after her.
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Ginsburg joins a list of other politicians who have had insects named after them, including President Obama, who has a spider in his name; Al Gore, who also has a praying mantis named after him; and Abraham Lincoln, who has a wasp in his name.
Ginsburg was the second ever women nominated to the court, and she is one of three serving today.
Brannoch and Svenson work at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, and a Cleveland Museum of Natural History statement said they named the species after Ginsburg “for her relentless fight for gender equality”.
The new species was discovered by scientists at the Cleveland Museum of Natural histroy, will hold the latin name, llomantis ginsburgae (pronounced ill-oh-mantis ginnz-BURG-ee). But Sydney Brannoch, the Ph.D. candidate at Case Western Reserve University who led the ginsburgae study, made a decision to study female mantis’ genitalia instead-and, thanks to her innovation, was able to distinguish Ilomantis ginsburgae as a new species.
Let’s not forget that similar to Justice Ginsburg, female praying mantises are known for decimating males of the species by ripping off their heads.
And, of course, they managed to use female genitalia to identify an entirely new species – a development Brannoch described as “novel”.
“This research establishes the validity of using female specimens in the classification of praying mantises”, she continued. They then compared the results of their technique to more traditional methods.
“Our work reduces this impediment by characterizing both sexes for praying mantis species”, Svenson says.
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“This adds to the working toolkit that researchers can use to identify the insects, which will allow them to more accurately distinguish one species from another”, said the Post.
