GADAG: Mogambo, Ramu Kaka. These on-screen names of Bollywood legends Amrish Puri and AK Hangal are now being given to bugs by researchers in Gadag. This new nomenclature method is trending and students and researchers have welcomed the initiative.
While Apeflypupa2 has been named ‘Mogambo’, the iconic role played by Amrish Puri in the 1987 movie ‘Mr India’, Halyomorpha Halys has been named Ramu Kaka, role played by veteran actor AK Hangal in many movies.
Researchers say the move has twin-purpose. One, to pay tribute to the celebrities and second, to create interest in research students by making the study of bugs easier for identification.
Researchers Sangamesh Kadagad and Manjunath Nayak said, “We have been naming the bugs to help junior researchers easily identify them. We first tell them scientific names and then select names of legends. Now, students are easily remembering the names of the specimen. We have also named some bugs after famous politicians and cricketers based on their looks and morphology, but are yet to finalise them”.
Who else was stung by the Bollywood bug?
The trend of naming the bugs after popular personalities started recently when Catacanthus Incarnatus was named ‘Hitler’ as it resembles the face of the German dictator. Similarly, Mogambo bug resembles Amrish Puri’s character in ‘Mr India’.
On February 4, some researchers, who were studying the Apeflypupa2 bug named it after AK Hangal and are also calling it Ramu Kaka, the on-screen name of the actor and theatre personality.
Last week, a new genus of wasp was named ‘Soligas’, which is the the indigenous community of Biligiri Rangan Hills (B.R. Hills) in Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka in recognition of their contribution to conservation of forests and biodiversity.
On Monday, a new spider, which was spotted after a long time in Gadag town, was named Bhallala of ‘Bahubali’ fame as its body resembles a chariot used by Bhallaladeva in the film.