Newly discovered Australian fly named after RuPaul

A newly discovered Australian fly has been named after drag queen RuPaul.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation named the colourful blue, green and red soldier fly Opaluma rupaul “to reflect the iridescent colours of flies in this group and the distinctive thorn on the underside of their abdomens”.

Three hard-to-find beetles have also been named after Pokemons.

The Binburrum articuno, Binburrum zapdos and Binburrum moltres, are not named after the elusive Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres characters.

National Research Collections’s Dr Bryan Lessard, said that eye-catching names could “attract the attention of citizen scientists and policymakers to include these species in bushfire recovery efforts.”