Cosmos Editorial
This is Paramonovius nightking, a bee fly named after the Night King of Game of Thrones fame because it reigns in winter and has a crown of spine-like hairs.
The Night King is one of 230 new species named by Australia’s CSIRO during the past year.
The name was chosen by PhD student Xuankun Li, a hardcore GoT fan, proving that “inspiration for new species names can come from anywhere,” says Bryan Lessard, an entomologist at CSIRO’s National Research Collections Australia.
“It has a serious side, but naming new species is the most fun a taxonomist can have.”
The newly named species range from a cusk eel (Barathronus algrahami) to a tiny soldier fly (Prosopochrysa lemannae).
Staff of the Australian National Herbarium also named six new plants species, including two daisies, two orchids, a lobelia and a trumpet vine.
The Australian Faunal Directory is an online catalogue of taxonomic and biological information on all animal species known to occur within Australia and its territories.
Taxonomy Australia maintains a running count of new Australian species named each year on a dashboard.
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