A rush of new microbes

Pseudotrichonympha pearti, a microbe named after canadian musician neil peart of the band rush.
Pseudotrichonympha pearti, a microbe named after Canadian musician Neil Peart of the band Rush.
Credit: Patrick Keeling

The newly-discovered species of microbe above (Pseudotrichonympha pearti) has been named after Neil Peart of the Canadian prog-rock band Rush because of its long hair and rhythmic wriggling under the microscope.

Along with two other species (P. leei and P. lifesoni), also equipped with tens of thousands of hairlike flagella, it is described in a paper published in Scientific Reports by researchers from the University of British Columbia.

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