Turkish scientist discovers new insect, names it after father

DİYARBAKIR

A Turkish scientist has discovered a new bug and has named it after his father in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

Academic Prof. Erol Yıldırım, who has been conducting scientific efforts regarding insects for the past 30 years, said his father Bahattin Yıldırım had asked him to name an insect after him.

“Because I have been working in entomology, my father has asked me to name an insect that I will discover after him,” Yıldırım told state-run Anadolu Agency, adding he had named the bug “Tiphia Bahattini.”

“My father was very happy when I told him about the discovery. My father’s name will be mentioned with this insect species as long as the world turns,” he also said.

Yıldırım from Erzurum Atatürk University’s Faculty of Agriculture had been carrying out research in Diyarbakır’s Silvan district when he had discovered the new type of insect.

After determining that the insect belonged to the Hymenoptera order’s Tiphiidae family, the scientist named the bug “Tiphia Bahattini” and made it a part of world entomology literature by publishing it in an international journal.

Newly discovered insects are usually named after the region they are found, Yıldırım said, noting that the insects carrying those names are like the deeds of those regions.

The scientist, who has been working at the “Entomological Museum of Erzurum Turkey” that includes nearly 50,000 different types of insects, said the museum includes more than 20 types of insects that were added to the world literature by him.

“I have been naming bugs with names such as ‘Microdynerus Erzincanensis,’ ‘Leptochilus Palandokenicus,’ ‘Onychopterocheilus Sarikamisensis’ and ‘Athous artvinensis’ based on the region they had been discovered in,” Yıldırım also said.

During the interview, Yıldırım said the only museum in the world that features the “Tiphia Bahattini” is the one in Erzurum.

Yıldırım said he had been glad to have been able to fulfill his father’s wish to name a bug after him and that it was common for scientists to name insects after people whom they wanted their names to live on forever.

As examples of this practice, Yıldırım said insects had been named after former U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama. He said his name had also been given to several insects by foreign scientists.

According to Yıldırım, there is an insect called “eroli” and four others as “yıldırımi” named after him by foreign scientists.

“The insects we have discovered and named are currently only in our museum. There are no examples of these insect species anywhere in the world. If scientists want to see them, they can find them here,” he added.