Beetle named after Greta Thunberg to honour her phenomenal efforts

The Natural History Museum in London announced that a newly discovered miniature beetle is named after the 16-year-old climate activist, Greta Thunberg on October 25. Michael Darby, a scientific associate at the museum honoured the Swedish activist by naming the tiny creature as “Nelloptodes gretae” which also belongs to the smallest known free-living animals. The scientists recognized Thunberg's advocacy for climate action and protection of the natural world and named an entire species of beetles after her which is now formally registered in the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 

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'Smallest free-living creature'

Darby admitted to having been working on a family of beetles which are also the 'smallest free-living creatures'. He further also explains that beetles are not parasitic but are living creatures in soil and feeds on fungal hyphae and spores. There are dozen of other species just in the United Kingdom which are still unknown as their diversity is poorly understood. Darby also acknowledges that it is the first time a species is named after the teen environmentalist because he is not aware of any other beetle named after her. N gretae was reportedly found in Kenya in the 1960s by William Block, who donated his samples to the London Museum of Natural History in 1978. The senior curator in charge of beetles in the museum, Max Barclay said that undiscovered species are getting extinct all the time before even being named and thus, it was appropriate to name the newest discovery after Thunberg. 

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Greta set to visit Vancouver

Greta Thunberg is expected to take part in a rally on October 25 outside the Vancouver Art Gallery as part of her future campaigns. The 16-year-old protested in Edmonton, Canada outside the legislature recently, however, her rally was met with counter-protests by oil and gas supporters. The Swedish activist made headlines after she started missing school on Friday's and protested outside the Swedish Parliament to take action against Climate Change, met global leaders and urged them to take action against climate change. Greta also addressed the UN Climate Change convention where she gave a powerful speech and lashed out at Global leaders for their inaction to curb climate change around the globe. 

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(With agency inputs)