“Honestly, it’s difficult for me to envision a higher honor,” Jason Bond, an Auburn University professor, told the Loop. “It’s permanent. In science, there are few things that we do as scientists that has the permanency that taxonomy does.”
Bond, a spider expert at the university’s Department of Biological Sciences and its Museum of Natural History, discovered several new species of trapdoor spiders in late 2012, and named one of his favorites, “Aptostichus barackobamai” after the president. It had unique characteristics, Bond said, like Obama.
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| In December 2012, Bond named a new trapdoor spider “Aptostichus barackobamai” after Obama. The spider, according to LiveScience, builds a protective shield and hides behind it before attacking prey (insert joke about dealing with House GOP). |
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| In April 2012, a new parasite was discovered near Obama’s father’s birthplace in Kenya. The hairworm, unique because it can reproduce without a male, is named “Paragordius obamai” in honor of the president, according to the University of New Mexico. |