The Legendary Birds from the original Pokemon games have received an unexpected new honor. Earlier this year, Dr. Darren Pollack and Yun Hsiao named three newly discovered beetle species after Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. The three species are named “Binburrum articuno,” “Binburrum zapdos,” and “Binburrum moltres,” and are variant species of a family of beetles found in southern Australia. Pollack discovered the general “Binburrum” genus of beetles, but it was Hsiao who discovered these specific sub-species and decided to name the beetles after Pokemon. Hsiao was a Pokemon fan as a child, and noted that he wanted to name the beetles after Legendary Pokemon due to their rarity. The pair’s findings were presented in a paper in late 2020, and since then even more species were discovered that they are also considering naming after Pokemon.
Our paper has been published online in @CanEntomologist! We review Binburrum Pyrochroidae and described 3 new species, which are named after the 3 legendary birds of #Pokémon, referring to the rareness of these species that have only few specimens @EcoEvo_ANU @CSIRO @ColeopSoc pic.twitter.com/Im0lEVCYJ2
