UF researchers recently discovered the first new species of owl butterfly in more than 100 years, and with enough money, you could have your name on it.
The Florida Museum of Natural History has decided to auction off the species name of a newly discovered owl butterfly to raise money for butterfly research, a UF news release stated.
Andrew Warren, a post-doctoral associate at UF's McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, said though the discovery of the species was recent, the specimen was almost 30 years old.
"It was hiding in plain sight for years," Warren said. "We identified a specimen that was actually collected in 1978."
The new species was linked with an owl butterfly family that lives in the canyons near the Sonoran Desert in Mexico and Arizona. Owl butterflies are known for the orange color on the tops of their wings and "owl eye" spots underneath, Warren said.
The auction for the name of the butterfly will take place on iGavel.com from Oct. 22 to Nov. 2.
"We realized this striking discovery represents an exceptional opportunity to raise funds for continued research on Mexican butterflies, by allowing rights to the species-level name to be auctioned," said George Austin, the researcher who made the discovery and McGuire Center collections manager, in the release.
Warren said the winner's butterfly name still has to abide by standards for the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.
Researchers said the discovery of such butterflies would become much more rare in the future.
"This likely will be one of the last times such a large and beautiful butterfly is named," Warren said.
