Gary Larson has a flea named after him?

This is OLD news. But I didn't know. And with the plethora of tropical nasties that we've been talking about lately, somehow this came up. Fascinating! And richly deserved I suppose.

An extract from the letter send to Larson:

Obviously it is common practice for entomologists to name new species of insects after colleagues, relatives, friends, enemies and people in the public eye... With your permission, I would like to name a new species of insect after you. There is a catch, however. I do not work on cute insects. I am a specialist on the order Mallophaga, the "chewing lice"... Your species, Strigiphilus garylarsoni belongs to a genus only found on owls... - Dale H. Clayton (University of Chicago).

And a picture of the critter.


I wonder, if one day, when this blog has risen to conquer the world of humourous medicine, someone would name a flea after us. Or a rare tropical disease.