Some were amused when a biologist recently named newly discovered slime mold beetles after Donald Rumsfeld (Agathidium rumsfeldi), Dick Cheney (A. cheneyi), and George Bush (A. bushi).

I won’t deny that those are amusing, even if they were intended to an homage (the entomologists in question appear to have a sick sense of respect), but it gets way better. A couple months ago the New York Times published an article about species naming that offered up some of the more entertaining scientific names floating around the biosphere. Traditionally a species’ name is supposed to reflect certain characteristics, but with about 1.5 million species described so far (and many millions left to describe, most of them insects), using the proper naming convention is no longer always possible...

"We have a code of ethics - no names that could be offensive on any grounds," said Neal L. Evenhuis, an entomologist at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu and current president of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, which oversees the naming process (similar groups exist for plants and bacteria). Beyond that, and requirements for Latinizing certain words, the person naming a species has wide leeway.

Dr. Evenhuis has taken some of that leeway himself with several of the more than 500 species of insects he has named. The flies Pieza pi and Pieza rhea are his creations, as are Pieza deresistans (relying on an alternative pronunciation of the genus name) and his personal favorite, Phthiria relativitae.

"It's not that I'm desperate," Dr. Evenhuis said. "I just have this streak of levity. Not all names have to necessarily be kind of boring."

Please note: none of the species names in the article were italicized, and I thought it proper to maintain the original formatting, though it pained me.