In 2018, in celebration of its 30th anniversary, US-based nonprofit environmental organisation <a href="https://www.rainforesttrust.org">Rainforest Trust</a> hosted an auction offering naming rights to newly discovered species. One of those species was a rainfrog discovered in Panama, Central America, and the auction winner decided to <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/939741">name the frog in honour of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg</a>.

Check out some <a href="https://blog.pensoft.net/2022/01/17/new-species-of-rainfrog-discovered-in-panama-and-named-in-honor-of-global-environmental-activist-greta-thunberg/" alt="adorable photos" class="on">adorable photos</a> of the frog below.

The naming of Greta Thunberg's Rainfrog (Pristimantis gretathunbergae) reflects the threat that climate warming poses on the Chucanti Reserve where the frog was discovered. The Mount Chucanti region has lost more than 30% forest cover in the last 10 years.

Abel Batista, Ph.D. (Panama) and Konrad Mebert, Ph.D. (Switzerland) (above) along with their international team (below) published their discovery and naming of Greta Thunberg's Rainfrog in&nbsp;<a href="https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/63009/" alt="ZooKeys" class="on">ZooKeys</a>.

#Rainfrog #GretaThunberg #SpeciesDiscovery #ClimateChange #ScienceImage source:&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.pensoft.net/2022/01/17/new-species-of-rainfrog-discovered-in-panama-and-named-in-honor-of-global-environmental-activist-greta-thunberg/" class="on">Konrad Mebert and Abel Batista in&nbsp;ZooKeys</a>&nbsp;(Greta Thunberg's Rainfrog and discovery team);&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Thunberg#/media/File:Greta_Thunberg_Lausanne_-_Palais_de_Rumine_17_Janvier_2020_copie.jpg">Markus Schweizer</a>&nbsp;(Greta Thunberg)​

New Species of Rainfrog in Panama Named after Environmental Activist Greta Thunberg

The naming of newly discovered organisms after famous people is not a new practice, but this particular species of branching worms is named after Japanese fictional monster Godzilla's archenemy, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Ghidorah">King Ghidorah</a>.Ramisyllis kingghidorahi&nbsp;was discovered in Sado Island, Japan. It lives in the internal canals of sea sponges. Like its three-headed, two-tailed namesake,&nbsp;R. kingghidorahi&nbsp;boasts a body that branches into multiple posterior ends. Interestingly, it only has one mouth. This finding baffles scientists with the following question: how can a single tiny mouth manage to fit a huge, branching body?An international multidisciplinary team of scientists led by <a href="https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/3240.html?id=6560" alt="Göttingen University" class="on">Göttingen University</a> described the new species in an article published in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13127-021-00538-4" class="on">Organisms Diversity &amp; Evolution</a>.

R. kingghidorahi peristalsis#Ramisylliskingghidorahi #BranchingWorms #SpeciesDiscovery #Godzilla #newspeciesImage and video source:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/3240.html?id=6560">M T Aguado and G Ponz-Segrelles at Universität Göttingen</a>​

#speciesdiscovery