There’s a new praying mantis named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg because of course
We thought Ruth Bader Ginsburg had already received the highest honor as a Supreme Court Justice, but then on Wednesday she got an insect named after her. Politico reports that scientists from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History were researching female praying mantis genitalia (as you do) and had the opportunity to name a newly discovered species. Of course, they thought of the Notorious RBG, and thus, the Ilomantis ginsburgae was born.
Their reasoning for this tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who’s one of three women currently sitting on the Supreme Court bench (Sonia Sotomayor was appointed in 2009, followed by Elena Kagan a year later), is both touching and hilarious. First and foremost, the researchers admired the 83-year-old’s “commitment to women’s rights and gender equality,” but also believed that her jabot (the lace collar we often see around her neck) resembles a praying mantis’s neck plate.
Do you see the resemblance?
Plus, this discovery has already done the name justice, since it’s inspired the lead author, Sydney Brannoch, to push for equality in biology. “As a feminist biologist, I often questioned why female specimens weren’t used to diagnose most species,” she told Politico, continuing:
We know Ruth Bader Ginsburg is proud that her namesake has already become a feminist icon in its community, and we hope the judge continues to inspire equality in creatures both big and small!