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Journalism of Courage
A new species of beetle was recently named after Greta Thunberg by the National History Museum, to honour the 16-year-old Swedish climate change activist. The species, named Nelloptodes gretae after Thunberg, is less than a millimetre in length. Entomologist Michael Darby said the decision was taken as Thunberg is known for her motto, “you are never too small to make a difference”.
“I’m really a great fan of Greta,” the scientist said. “She is a great advocate for saving the planet and she is amazing at doing it, so I thought that this was a good opportunity to recognise that.”
The micro insect has neither eyes nor wings. It is pale and gold in colour, and has two long pigtail-like antennae, which remind some of Thunberg’s long braids. The species, which was originally collected in Kenya between 1964 and 1965 by an entomologist called William Brock, belongs to the Ptiliidae family of beetles. This family includes some of the smallest insects in the world. The samples, which were collected in the 60s from the soil from around east Africa, was until now stored in the Museum’s collections.
“These beetles are so very small that my wife has described them as being like animated full stops,” Darby was quoted as saying by the museum. “But actually many are a whole lot smaller than a full stop.”
Stressing that this beetle species was not named after Greta because it is small, the scientist highlighted that several species of Ptiliidae are named after prominent people, including one for Sir David Attenborough, “meaning that N. gretae is certainly in prestigious company”.
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