Slime-mold beetles named for Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld
{{date|April 14, 2005}}

While naming 65 new species of slime-mold beetles, [[w:entomologist|entomologists]] Quentin Wheeler and Kelly Miller named three after U.S. President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Of the genus Agathidium, they are bushi, cheneyi and rumsfeldi.

Wheeler, keeper and head of entomology at the Natural History Museum in London, intended the names to be an honor: "We admire these leaders as fellow citizens who have the courage of their convictions and are willing to do the very difficult and unpopular work of living up to principles of freedom and democracy rather than accepting the expedient or popular."

Miller is a post-doctoral fellow at Brigham Young University.

A. bushi Miller and Wheeler inhabits southern Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia. A. cheneyi Miller and Wheeler lives in Chiapas, Mexico. A. rumsfeldi Miller and Wheeler is from Oaxaca and Hidalgo in Mexico.

Other inspirations for names include their illustrator Frances Fawcett, their wives, geographic areas, Latin and Greek words, the Aztecs, Pocahontas, and Darth Vader.

==Sources==

* {{source|url=http://www.news.cornell.edu/Stories/April05/slime-mold.Bush.Cheney.ssl.html
|title=Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are now species of slime-mold beetles -- but strictly in homage
|author=
|pub=Cornell University News Service
|date=April 13, 2005}}
* {{source|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2005-04-14-bugs_x.htm
|title=Bush gets a bug of his own
|author=
|pub=Associated Press
|date=April 14, 2005}}
* {{source|url=http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=8180310
|title=Oddly Enough: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld share beetles honor
|author=
|pub=Reuters
|date=April 14, 2005}}

== Related news ==

* {{source|url=http://library.amnh.org/pubs/bulletin.html
|title=Slime-mold beetles of the genus Agathidium Panzer in North and Central America : Coleoptera, Leiodidae. Parts 1 and 2
|author=Quentin D. Wheeler, Kelly B. Miller
|pub=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History
|date=March 24, 2005}}

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[[Category:Science and technology]]
[[Category:Wackynews]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:George W. Bush]]
[[Category:Donald Rumsfeld]]
[[Category:Dick Cheney]]
[[Category:Species discovery]]
While naming 65 new species of slime-mold beetles, entomologists Quentin Wheeler and Kelly Miller named three after U.S. President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Of the genus Agathidium, they are bushi, cheneyi and rumsfeldi.

Wheeler, keeper and head of entomology at the Natural History Museum in London, intended the names to be an honor: "We admire these leaders as fellow citizens who have the courage of their convictions and are willing to do the very difficult and unpopular work of living up to principles of freedom and democracy rather than accepting the expedient or popular."

Miller is a post-doctoral fellow at Brigham Young University.

A. bushi Miller and Wheeler inhabits southern Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia. A. cheneyi Miller and Wheeler lives in Chiapas, Mexico. A. rumsfeldi Miller and Wheeler is from Oaxaca and Hidalgo in Mexico.

Other inspirations for names include their illustrator Frances Fawcett, their wives, geographic areas, Latin and Greek words, the Aztecs, Pocahontas, and Darth Vader.
Science and technology Wackynews Biology George W. Bush Donald Rumsfeld Dick Cheney Species discovery