Hibbert's flowers and Hitler's beetle – what do we do when species are named after history's monsters?
- Written by: Kevin Thiele, Adjunct Assoc. Professor, The University of Western Australia
John Tann/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA“What’s in a name?”, asked Juliet of Romeo. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
But, as with the Montagues and Capulets, names mean a lot, and can cause a great deal of heartache.
My colleagues and I are taxonomists, which means we name living things....