Meet A Real Rock 'N' Roll Beetle
It's comforting to think we know all the creatures, great and small, that we share the Earth with. The truth is, new creatures are being discovered and identified around the world all the time. They just usually aren't introduced at rock concerts.
On January 25, 2008, Arizona State University (ASU) entomologist and professor in the School of Life Sciences, Quentin Wheeler announced the discovery of a new beetle species during a Roy Orbison Tribute Concert. The concert was part of a weekend of tribute events hosted by ASU's Center for Film, Media and Popular Culture and the Tempe Center for the Arts which was attended by Orbison's widow, Barbara and sons Wesley and Roy Jr. as well as fans.
"It's a token of admiration for Roy's body of work and all you [Barbara Orbison] do to keep his music alive," Wheeler said, presenting a unique artwork depicting Orectochilus orbisonorum, a new species of Gyrinidae.(Cloeoptera), to Barbara.
Wheeler described the work, a painting with pixels on cotton water color paper featuring nine images of a whirling beetle created by Charles J. Kazilek, a senior research professional in ASU's School of Life Sciences who also holds a degree for ASU's Herberger College of the Arts, as "The style of the print is Warhol meets Carl Linnaeus".
Wheeler, the director of the International Institute for Species Exploration at ASU and vice president and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, co-authored the research behind the discovery of Orectochilus orbisonorum with Kelly Miller of the University of New Mexico and Paolo Mazzoldi of Brescia, Italy. A scientific paper describing the new species has been accepted for publication by "Zootaxa", an international journal for animal taxonomists.
The new rock 'n' roll beetle species "is unique among Indian Gyrinidae and Orectochilus Lacordaire, in general, since the ventral surfaces are white as the result of clear areas of cuticle allowing internal tissues to be visible," according to the trio of researchers.
