Attention Mikey..the BIGXMAN...
I read THIS in the news today...thought of YOU instantly...
GREENVILLE, N.C. (May 8, 2008) ‹ An East Carolina University biologist
has brought his admiration of Neil Young to a whole new class.
Or species, to be exact.
Jason Bond, an ECU professor of biology, has named a newly discovered
trapdoor spider, Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi, after the legendary rock star.
³There are rather strict rules about how you name new species,² Bond
said. ³As long as these rules are followed you can give a new species
just about any name you please. With regards to Neil Young, I really
enjoy his music and have had a great appreciation of him as an activist
for peace and justice.²
In 2007, Bond discovered the new spider species in Jefferson Co., Ala,
and later co-wrote a paper with Norman I. Platnick, curator at the
American Museum of Natural History in New York, on the genus.
Bond received $750,000 in grants from the National Science Foundation in
2005 and 2006 to classify the trapdoor spider species and contribute to
the foundation¹s Tree of Life project. He is both a spider systematist
someone who studies organisms and how they are classified and
taxonomist someone who classifies new species.
Spiders in the trapdoor genus are distinguished on the basis of
differences in genitalia, Bond said, from one species to the next. He
confirmed through the spider¹s DNA that the Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi is
an identifiable, separate species of spider within the trapdoor genus.
Vana Catman fondles his mellons...
