New beetle species named after climate activist Greta

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) – A recently discovered beetle species was named ''Nelloptodes gretae'' in honor of young climate activist Greta Thunberg on Friday.

"The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been honored by having a new species of beetle named after her," announced the National History Museum in London.

Nelloptodes gretae, less than a milimeter in length, is one of the smallest known free-living animals and belongs to the family of beetles called Ptiliidae.

"I suspect that this could very well be the first time a species has been named after Greta. I don't know of any other beetle named after her, that's for sure," Michael Darby, a scientific associate at the museum, said.

Darby, who has given Greta's name to the beetle said that he is a fan of Thunberg: "She is a great advocate for saving the planet and she is amazing at doing it, so I thought that this was a good opportunity to recognize that."

The 16-year-old climate activist was first known for her “skolstrejk för klimatet”, or school strike for the climate, protests in August 2018 outside the Swedish parliament.

Thunberg's "Fridays for Future" protests, which began in her native country Sweden but since have become a global phenomenon, has sought to bring world governments into a full compliance with the Paris Climate Accord.

The Paris agreement is part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, signed in 2015.

Under the Paris deal, industrialized nations pledged financial support for developing countries for climate protection measures, technology transfer, and capacity-building programs.