LINCOLN, Neb. — A Nebraska entomologist has named three of his eight newest beetle discoveries after the dragons from the HBO series 「Game of Thrones」 and George R.R. Martin book series 「A Song of Ice and Fire.」
內布拉斯加州林肯市的一名昆蟲學家以HBO電視劇《權力的遊戲》和喬治·R·R·馬丁《冰與火之歌》叢書系列中的龍命名了他最新發現的八種甲蟲中的三種。
University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor Brett Ratcliffe named the new scarab beetle species drogoni, rhaegali and viserioni, The Omaha World-Herald reported. The names are Latinized versions of Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion, three dragons owned by Daenerys Targaryen’s character in the fictional work.
據《奧馬哈世界先驅報》報導，內布拉斯加-林肯大學教授布雷特·拉特克裡夫將這種新型甲蟲命名為卓戈尼、雷加利和維塞羅尼。這些名字是小說中丹妮莉絲·坦格利安這個角色所擁有的三隻龍：卓耿、雷加爾和維塞瑞恩的拉丁版本。
Radcliffe said he’s a fan of the series, but ultimately chose the names to draw attention to biodiversity and the amount of undiscovered species.
拉特克裡夫說他是這個系列的粉絲，但最終還是選擇用這些名字來引起人們對生物多樣性和未發現物種數量的關注。
「When you create names like these, you do it to gain a little bit of notoriety and bring public attention to it,」 Ratcliffe said. 「We’re still discovering life on Earth. One of every four living things on Earth is a beetle. We haven’t discovered them all. We’re not even close.」
拉特克利夫說:「當你創造這樣的名字時，你是為了獲得一點名氣，並引起公眾的注意。我們還在探索地球上的生命。地球上每四種生物中就有一種是甲蟲。我們還沒有把它們全部探索完。還差得遠呢。」
Ratcliffe said he’s named hundreds of species over his 50-year career and creating new names becomes difficult. Naming rules recommend against using humor or insults, and are particularly useful to avoid having duplicate names, he said.
拉特克利夫說，在他50年的職業生涯中，他給數百個物種命過名，給它們起新名字變得很困難。他說，命名規則是建議不要使用幽默或侮辱性名字，這對於避免重複命名特別有用。
Ratcliffe said he went with the pop culture reference to have a little bit of fun.
拉特克利夫說，他參照流行文化來找點樂子。
「I』ve often thought that scientists take themselves too seriously,」 Ratcliffe said, 「and this is a way to circumvent that.」
拉特克利夫說:「我經常認為，科學家太把自己當回事了，而這是一種規避方法。」
Drogoni and viserioni can be found in Colombia and Ecuador, while rhaegali is in the French Guiana. All three have orange features.
在哥倫比亞和厄瓜多可以找到卓戈尼和維塞羅尼，而在法屬蓋亞那可以找到雷加利。這三種甲蟲都有橙色的特徵。