Sir David Attenborough’s ability to bring the natural world to the viewing public has inspired many a researcher to name newly discovered species after him.
From butterflies to pygmy locusts to the Attenborosaurus dinosaur, the naturalist has lent his name to many plants and animals.
Here are some other species carrying his name:
– The Attenborough’s hawkweed or Hieracium attenboroughianum – the wildflower became the first living species in the UK and Ireland to be named after him. It was discovered more than 10 years ago in the Brecon Beacons but it took a decade for scientists to establish whether or not it was actually new.
– Euptychia attenboroughi – a rare species of Amazonian butterfly from lowland tropical forests of the upper Amazon basin in Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil.
– Trigonopterus attenboroughi – a species of flightless weevil in the genus Trigonopterus from Indonesia.
– Electrotettix attenboroughi – a pygmy grasshopper.
– Attenborough’s pitcher plant or Nepenthes attenboroughii – a plant endemic to Palawan Island in the Philippines.
– Zaglossus attenboroughi – a long-beaked echidna found in the highland forests of New Guinea.
– Attenborosaurus conybeari – a dinosaur that lived in Europe during the Sinemurian stage of the early Jurassic period.
– Ctenocheloides attenboroughi – a ghost shrimp with pectinate claw fingers from Madagascar.
– Materpiscis attenboroughi – a placoderm fish fossil that was was found in the Gogo area of north-west Western Australia.
– Blakea attenboroughii – a spectacular species of tree found only in Ecuador.
