On the 31st episode of The Humans & Wildlife Show, we chat with grasshopper biologist Dr. Ricardo Mariño-Pérez, who has discovered multiple new species of insects. Ricardo describes what it's like to find, name, and describe a new species. 

How to pick a species name? Often, animals are known to local people and only "new" to western science, in which case Ricardo attempts to incorporate the local name into the formal scientific name. In other cases, one might name the species after some characteristic of the animal, a loved one or colleague, a public figure (either in honor of them, as an insult, or to draw media attention), or someone else (check out these seven animals named after Star Wars). 

As for Ricardo? He's named new species after their appearances, local names, a celebrity, and his mom. One new species he helped describe, Liladownsia fraile, was named after Mexican celebrity Ana Lila Downs Sánchez, who is from the same region they discovered the grasshopper in. Another part of the species' formal name includes the colloquial local name for the species. People in the area called the species the "friar grasshopper," because it appeared to be wearing a hood like a friar's. (Fraile means "friar" in Spanish).

Describing a new species includes more than finding and naming them though—you also have to formally document the characteristics that make the species unique. What we're saying is—Ricardo also spends a lot of time looking at grasshopper genitalia under a microscope.

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A deeper dive: Ricardo was previously a guest on our show for Episode 5: Eating Insects. You can check out some scientific papers in which he describes new species here and here.

Airdate February 09, 2022

The Humans & Wildlife Show, Ep.31