ASU beetle fancier names species after famous people

Entomologist Quentin Wheeler, ASU vice president and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, talks about naming slime-mold eating beetles after famous people with NPR science correspondent Robert Krulwich in an “All Thing Considered” segment. The interview – “What Goes Into Naming A New Species? A Lot” – aired Sept. 23, 2008.

Wheeler is asked by Krulwich about how he and his former student Kelly Miller in 2005 named one of the beetles after President George W. Bush and another after Vice President Dick Cheney. According to Wheeler, it was a compliment, one that netted a phone call from the president. Since then, Wheeler and Miller have named beetles after other notables, including Roy and Barbara Orbison.