A fan of Pokémon and Ph.D., student Yun proposed the idea of giving the beetles the name of the legendary birds because he wanted the nicknames to refer to the rarity of species that have only a few specimens. Admittedly, beetles are not as colorful as their animated namesakes, but they are described as “distinct” because they have a very slight color variation between them.
Image credit: Dr. Darren Pollock / Yun Hsiao.
Much like the legendary Pokémon birds, the trio of beetles can be easily identified from each other. Binburrum articuno (far left) has a silvery brown color on its body and wings, while Binburrum moltres (in the middle) has a very distinct two-tone color with a golden upper half and a black lower half, and Binburrum zapdos (right) ) has black wings with a golden prothorax between the body and the head.
“Yun says he was an aspiring Pokémon trainer when he was young and, because of the rarity of specimens of the three new species, he suggested that we name them after the three legendary bird Pokémon,” explained Pollock. “I thought it was a great idea, so the new species that were revealed to the world in 2020 are Binburrum articuno, Binburrum moltres and Binburrum zapdos.”
Pollock noted the importance of naming a species and choosing a name that has not been used before to differentiate between specimens. He also indicated that more new species of the same genus have been discovered since the article was published and that they may have resorted to their pocket monster Pokédex to give even more names to the insects.Significantly, this study emerged in the year of the Pokémon’s 25th anniversary, with celebrations expected to continue throughout the rest of 2021. The Pokémon Company has already shared some incredible news, including all-new game revelations and details for the New Pokémon Snap. There were also announcements for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and Pokémon Legends of the open world: Arceus.
Adele Ankers is a freelance entertainment journalist. You can reach it at Twitter.