Online auction gives butterfly a name
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - A new butterfly species has a name after an anonymous bidder paid $40,800 for naming rights.
The butterfly’s common name will be the Minerva owl butterfly. It’s being named after Margery Minerva Blythe Kitzmiller, of Malvern, Ohio, who died in 1972.
While the bidder’s name in the online auction was not disclosed, the payment was made on behalf of Kitzmiller’s grandchildren.
The butterfly’s scientific name will be Opsiphanes blythekitzmillerae.
University of Florida researchers George Austin and Andrew Warren discovered the new species while looking through a butterfly collection at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. They found it was misidentified as an example of another species.
The 4-inch butterfly is brown, white and black and lives in Sonora, Mexico.
Auction proceeds will go toward further research of Mexican butterflies.