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President Obama Now Has 7 Species Named After Him

Photo from Pixabay

The outgoing President of the United States now has a total of seven species named after him, two of them parasites. The latest is a blood fluke – a small flatworm that lives in the lungs of Malaysian freshwater turtles, which biologist Thomas Platt discovered and named Baracktrema obamai. The flatworm can cause from mild inflammation to paralysis or death in the turtles

The other parasite is a hairworm found in the Lake Victoria region of Kenya, discovered in 2012, Slate reports.

Taxonomists say that having a living organism named after a person is a very good thing.

Naturalist David Attenborough, who has a number of species named after him as well, said that getting an individual’s name on a new species’ is the “biggest of compliments that you could ask from any scientific community.”

Platt told the Associated Press that the parasite’s naming was done with good intentions, bringing the total number of organisms named after the 44th US President to seven. Apart from the two parasites, Obama’s name has been used for a fish from Tennessee in honor of his dedication to conservation, an extinct lizard because of the president’s excellent dentals, a bird and a trapdoor spider for seemingly random reasons, and a Californian lichen for Obama’s support of science – he has admitted to being a firm believer in the sciences.

Here’s the rundown of all living things named after President Barack Obama, one of which he shares with First Lady Michelle:

  • Aptostichus barackobamai, a trapdoor spider
  • Baracktrema obamai, a blood fluke
  • Etheostoma obama, a darter fish
  • Obamadon, an extinct lizard
  • Paragordius obamai, a parasitic worm
  • Nystalus obamai (Western Striolated-Puffbird), a puffbird
  • Teleogramma obamaorum, a cichlid (Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama)
  • Caloplaca obamae, a lichen

Evolutionist Charles Darwin has a hundred species named after him, and Lady Gaga has 19 fern species to her name. Even Beyoncé has a horsefly with a golden belly named after her.

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