Strumigenys ayersthey. (Douglas B Booher, Philipp O Hoenle/ZooKeys)
A newly-discovered species of ant has been given a scientific name ending with “they” as a tribute by biologists to the non-binary community.
In an effort to celebrate gender diversity, biologists have named an ant species in Ecuador with the suffix “they” rather than the traditional gendered Latin suffixes.
When it comes to species-naming traditions, a lot of new critters are named after people, such as pop culture icons or field experts. The practice only recognises two genders, however, with the suffix “-ae” denoting women and “-i” denoting men.
But the Strumigenys ayersthey, a miniature trap-jaw ant with shining cuticles and cartoonish eyes, ditches both altogether, using “-they” instead. Making it one of the first creatures in the world to have a gender-neutral suffix.
Life 5 May 2021
This ant has been named Strumigenys ayersthey
A newly discovered species of ant from Ecuador has been named with the suffix “-they”, rather than a traditional gendered Latin suffix, to celebrate gender diversity.
The ant was discovered by Philipp Hoenle at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, in 2018. He sent a photograph to taxonomic expert Douglas Booher at Yale University, who recognised it as a new species in the genus
Strumigenys.
In contrast to traditional species-naming practices, which only recognise one of two distinct genders with the suffixes “-ae” for women and “-i” for men, Booher suggested using the gender non-binary identifier “they” instead, naming the ant
Researchers have discovered a rare new miniature trap-jaw ant in the tropical forest of Ecuador in South America. The new insect has been named
Strumigenys ayersthey after activist and artist Jeremy Ayers who died in 2016. The ant is truly unique among its genus, which has over 850 species, and to celebrate its uniqueness its discoverers decided to honor Ayers and celebrate both biological and human diversity by making it possibly the only species in the world with a scientific name with the suffix they .
The newly described species was first identified in 2018 by Philipp Hoenle from the Technical University of Darmstadt in the Reserva Río Canandé, which is owned and taken care of by the NGO Jocotoco. Described in the journal ZooKeys, it is distinguishable for its smooth and shiny cuticle surface and distinctively long trap-jaw mandibles, which makes it stand out even in its overcrowded genus. The fact they haven t been able to find any more specimens suggest it s rare.
A newly discovered miniature trap-jaw ant from the evergreen tropical forests of Ecuador has been named in recognition of gender diversity.
The insect bears the Latin name Strumigenys ayersthey, making it possibly the only species in the world to have a scientific name with the suffix -they, in a nod to gender diversity.
There are hundreds of other ants which are named in honour of people, but end with -ae after females and -i after males.
American singer-songwriter Michael Stipe, of alternative rock band R.E.M., joined Douglas Booher of Yale University in America in the writing of the etymology section for the article.