JournalStar.com

UNL's beetle discovery ranks in top 10 of '07

By the Lincoln Journal Star
Tuesday, Jun 17, 2008 - 11:49:16 am CDT
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln entomologist and his team discovered a new beetle species that’s been named one of the top 10 new species of 2007 by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University.

Entomology professor Brett Ratcliffe and his team from the University of Nebraska State Museum discovered the rhinoceros beetle Megaceras briansaltini in Peru.

The new beetle apparently resembles Dim, the blue beetle in the Disney/Pixar animated film “A Bug’s Life.”

“This makes for a rare instance of nature imitating art,” the Arizona institute wrote on its Web site in naming the UNL team’s discovery No. 9 of the year.

Other top-10 species discoveries: a hot-pink millipede, a highly venemous snake, a fruit bat and a mushroom.