Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio has had a beetle named after him in honour of his years of environmental campaigning.
The Grouvellinus leonardodicaprioi beetle was discovered at the bottom of a waterfall in Maliau Basin, a remote nature reserve in Borneo.
It was found by Taxon Expeditions, a firm set up to help untrained volunteers discover new species and the expedition was funded by the Inception star’s foundation. The 43-year-old created The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998.
After finding three new species of water beetle, the participants voted to name one of them after DiCaprio.
Iva Njunjic, founder of Taxon Expeditions, said: “Tiny and black, this new beetle may not win an Oscar for charisma, but in biodiversity conservation, every creature counts.”
The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation aims to reduce the impact of humans on the environment and protect the world’s last wild places. It has awarded over $100 million (Dh367 million) in grants since 2010.
Other celebrities to have insects names after them include actress Kate Winslet, who too has a beetle named after her. The Scaptia beyonceae horsefly was named after singer Beyonce because of its dense golden hair, and the Gnathia marleyi is a parasite that feeds on fish in the Caribbean, named after late reggae singer Bob Marley.
