Naming rights to new moth for sale on eBay
Print Edition
AN eBay auction allowed the public to make a different kind of purchase. Up for sale: naming rights to a new insect. And the bidding started at US$500.
A moth that weighs less than an ounce (28 grams) and measures about an inch (2.5 centimeters) was discovered eight years ago at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico by entomologist Eric H. Metzler.
The rigorous process to have a new species approved has taken several years, but now Metzler, a volunteer at the park, is ready to give his flying friend a name.
That honor is usually bestowed on the person who made the finding.
But Metzler wanted to give back to the Western National Parks Association, which has funded some of his research. So he asked the organization to start an online auction for the naming rights and to take the proceeds.
“I am not a rich man and I don’t have a lot of money to give to charity but this is the way I could give them money in the form of service. I could use my brains to help them,” Metzler said.
“When are you ever going to have the opportunity to have your own moth named after you?” said Amy Reichgott, development manager for the Western National Parks Association.
The winner will work with Metzler to Latinize the name. An international organization has to approve the name.
Others have auctioned off naming rights with varied success. Last year, Nova Southeastern University, for example, auctioned off the naming rights to a newly discovered type of sea lily.
The winner of the auction, a Florida resident, shelled out US$6,150. The sea lily hasn’t been officially named yet as it’s still undergoing a peer-review process, university spokesman Joe Donzelli said.
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