Professor Discovers New Species of Beetles and Names Them After Three Legendary Bird Pokemon

A professor has named three new species of beetles in Australia after the Pokemon franchise’s legendary birds Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos.According to the Eastern New Mexico University, Dr. Darren Pollock and Yun Hsiao collaborated on a paper to document the beetle discovery and describe the new species for an upcoming third edition of “Australian Beetles.” The duo examined the specimens and decided to officially name them Binburrum articuno, Binburrum zapdos, and Binburrum moltres after the Pokemon Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.

Pokemon fan and Ph.D. student Yun proposed the idea of naming the beetles after the legendary birds because he wanted the monikers to refer to the rareness of the species that only have a few specimens. Admittedly, the beetles aren’t quite as brightly colored as their animated namesakes but they are described as being “distinct” as they do have a very slight color variation between them.

Image credit: Dr. Darren Pollock/Yun Hsiao.

Much like Pokemon’s legendary birds, the trio of beetles can be easily identified from one another. Binburrum articuno (far left) has a silvery brown coloring across its body and wings, while Binburrum moltres (middle) has a very distinct two-tone coloring with a golden top-half and a black bottom-half, and the Binburrum zapdos (right) has black wings with a golden prothorax between its body and head.

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“Yun says that he was an aspiring Pokémon trainer when he was young, and so, because of the rarity of the specimens of the three new species, he suggested that we name them after the three Legendary bird Pokémon,” Pollock explained. “I thought that this was a great idea, and so, the new species which were unveiled 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 the specimens. He also indicated that more new species of the same genus have been discovered since the paper was published and that they may have referred back to their Pokedex of pocket monsters to assign even more Pokemon names to the insects.

Significantly, this study has emerged in Pokemon’s 25th Anniversary year, with celebrations expected to continue throughout the rest of 2021. The Pokemon Company has already shared some incredible news, including all-new game reveals and details for New Pokemon Snap. There’s also been announcements for Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and the open-world Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.