Game of Thrones is an epic fantasy series and it isn’t much of a wonder that with a large number of fan-following across the globe some nerds never get enough of it. Such is the case of a professor named Brett Ratcliffe– an entomologist from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Brett who is an entomologist by passion is also a huge fan of Game of Thrones. He has named around 200 species of scarab Beetles but interestingly enough the latest three in his addition are inspired from Game of Thrones. These three beetles are named after the three dragons of Daenerys – Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion (Though it belongs to the Night King now!).
The three new beetles belonging to the genus Gymnetis are named Drogoni, Viserioni, and Rhaegali being the respective namesake of Drogon, Viserion, and Rahegal. Having orange features and evoking dragon fire, Drogoni and Viserioni can be found in Colombia and Equador, while Rhaegali is commonly found in French Guiana.
This isn’t the first time that people have used popular names from the fantasy world created in George RR Martin’s mind. Back in 2017, BBC reported that around 300 baby girls born in England and Wales were named Arya. Other popular baby names included Khaleesi, Tyrion, Sansa, Daenerys, and Brienne.
Brett admitted to Ohama that he is a huge fan of Game of Thrones and had done this on purpose just for some fun. According to him,
“When you create names like these, you do it to gain a little bit of notoriety and bring public attention to it…We’re still discovering life on Earth. One of every four living things on Earth is a beetle. We haven’t discovered them all. We’re not even close.”
In his 50-year-long career, Ratcliffe has named over 200 species of beetles and a dozen have been named after him. He also admits:
“I’ve often thought that scientists take themselves too seriously…and this is a way to circumvent that.”
Game of Thrones Season 8 seems right over the horizon yet we haven’t received any official update on the actual date of airing. What were your thoughts on this interesting news? Tell us in the comments.
