Arts

20 Jul 10

Dr George McGavin (centre right) and his fellow judges announce the overall winner of the competition, the 'Queen's executioner'

Ten endangered species have been given common English names, after the results of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History’s ‘Name a Species’ competition results were announced on Saturday (17 July).

The competition, launched last month in partnership with Natural England and The Guardian, invited the public to give popular names to ten species of British beetle, bees, jellyfish, shrimps and lichens, all of which have until now only been listed in Latin.

Among the winning names picked from the three thousand entries received were skeetle, a beetle that escapes predators using natural ‘jet skis’; sea piglet, a deep-sea ‘pseudo shrimp’; and overall winner the Queen’s executioner, a beetle found only in Windsor Great Park. Previously, their names were much less memorable: stenus longitarsis, arrhis phylonyx and megapenthes lugens respectively.

Jim Kennedy, Director of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, said: ‘It is great that so many people submitted entries to the ‘Name a Species’ competition, and that ten threatened species have been given creative and exciting new names.

‘The competition aimed to highlight Britain’s endangered species, and giving common English names to such animals can only help to raise awareness of their plight among the public. 

‘The newly-named species are now on display in the museum, where visitors can decide for themselves how well the animals’ new names fit their characteristics!’

Dr George McGavin, honorary research associate of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and a competition judge, added: ‘People really entered into the spirit of the competition and we had some great names to choose from.’

Other winning names included a kaleidoscope jellyfish, which is a beautiful stalked jellyfish; a St John’s jellyfish, which takes the shape of a Maltese cross; Mab’s lantern, a rare spotted beetle, a scabious cuckoo bee, which lays its eggs in the nest of other bees; a blue pepper-pot beetle, whose larvae live in willow trees, witches’ whiskers lichen, which have medicinal properties; and pixie gowns lichen, which turn green when wet.