Researchers Discover New Insects and Name Them After Legendary Pokémon

Researchers Discover New Insects and Name Them After Legendary Pokémon
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The notorious Pokémon media franchise is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and what else could be more exciting for its fans than to see those pocket monsters becoming a reality? This seems to be what Eastern New Mexico University entomology professor Dr. Darren Pollock and Australia National University Ph.D. student Yun Hsiao had in mind.

Hypebeast.com writes about three newly discovered Australian beetle species and the two entomologists’ idea to name them after three of Pokémon’s most powerful and beautiful birds: Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.

The Binburrum family of beetles got updated

The beetle family is now richer with the new official scientific names inspired by Pokémon, such as Binburrum articuno, Binburrum moltres, and Binburrum zapdos.

Dr. Pollock explained the unusual decision:

The choice of a name for a new species is not trivial; it must be different from any other described species. One of the ways to ensure this is to make a name that nobody would ever have come up with before.

Ph.D. student Yun Hsiao says that he was dreaming of becoming a Pokémon trainer when he was younger. The beetle species are very rare, and that’s why the researchers choose to give them unique names. The three afore-mentioned Pokémon birds are also rare, as that’s why they’re considered ‘Legendary’.

In the Pokémon media franchise, Zapdos, Articuno and Moltres were three very powerful creatures that even Charizard had trouble defeating. Articuno’s powers are based on ice, Zapdos is the thunder-type bird, while Moltres is the fire-type Pokémon.

The Pokémon 25th anniversary is officially branded as Pokémon25, and it’s an ongoing celebration that lasts for the entire year of 2021. The Pokémon franchise began with the original Japanese release from 1996 of Pocket Monsters Red and Green for the Game Boy platform.


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Even since he was a child, Cristian was staring curiously at the stars, wondering about the Universe and our place in it. Today he's seeing his dream come true by writing about the latest news in astronomy. Cristian is also glad to be covering health and other science topics, having significant experience in writing about such fields.

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