Pretty sure this is the most pleasant piece of Trump related news I’ve seen since he won the damn election. I doubt I’ll see a better one until the day he’s impeached.
The new species was initially discovered through dissection of Gnorimoschemini material borrowed from the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis (UCBME). Two males and one female from Algodones dunes in Imperial County, California, showed a unique genitalia and wing pattern that did not match known species of Gnorimoschemini. Based on similarities in genitalia of both sexes I associated these with Neopalpa, and this identification was further supported by DNA barcoding.
The scientific name for the new moth species, Nazari determined, would be Neopalpa donaldtrumpi:
The new species can be easily distinguished from N. neonata by its external appearance, the yellowish-white scales covering the frons of the adult head, and the distinctive orange-yellow coloration on the forewing dorsum. In the male genitalia, the valvae are strongly curved, the saccus has an acute tip, and the highly-developed bilobed processes of the vinculum, characteristic of N. neonata [an existing species within this genus], are absent.
If you’re like me and don’t know what the hell most of that means, don’t worry. Snopes has you covered.
And if you’re wondering why we’re naming moths after Donald Trump now, there are two main reasons. One is to raise a little environmental awareness, and the other is because dude’s got some weird damn hair.
The new species is named in honor of Donald J. Trump, to be installed as the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017. The reason for this choice of name is to bring wider public attention to the need to continue protecting fragile habitats in the US that still contain many undescribed species. The specific epithet is selected because of the resemblance of the scales on the frons (head) of the moth to Mr. Trump’s hairstyle.
