Zyzzyva Ztanding Out
“While there are 250,000 described species of plants, 12,000 described species of
roundworms, and only 4,000 described species of mammals, there are over 350,000 beetle
species described, with many more beetles yet to be discovered!”
https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/side_O_0/beetles_01
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn.punchng.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/27175516/1200px-
Zyzzyva.jpg&imgrefurl=http://punchng.com/zyzzyva-the-new-last-word-in-
dictionary/&h=819&w=1200&tbnid=AP8IjmSJH0ZyvM:&q=zyzzyva+weevil&tbnh=160&tbnw=235&usg=__4Knh7nqf-
wT51n_DBVZUAXfnR48%3D&vet=1&docid=jkzYye6MpD0dNM&itg=1&client=firefox-b-ab&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXxLjxo-
3bAhWnBcAKHZ53AWIQ_B0I2wEwFg
If you’re a beetle, then you have to find
A way to stand out from the rest. Well . . . you
Could be a weevil. Beetles aren’t confined
To that small subset. And . . . then if you grew
A schnoz, that might quite separate you from
Two hundred and ninety thousand others
Who aren’t small weevils, free you from the scrum
Of being just a beetle. Your brothers,
The coleoptera who do not have that snout,
Would see that you aren’t one of them. And . . . then
(Just maybe) you could live in palm trees out
In tropic climes. When scientific men
Discover you, they might make up a name
That’s truly stupid. Would that be a shame?
“Zyzzyva /ˈzɪzɪvə/ is a genus of tropical American weevils often found in association with
palms. . . .
It was first discovered in 1922 in Brazil, and named by an Irishman. Thomas Lincoln Casey,
Jr., an entomologist at New York's Museum of Natural History thought that, because there
was not a Latin name or Brazilian name associated with this weevil, it was probably named
Zyzzyva as a practical joke to place it in a prominent ending position in many guides and
manuals.” ~ Wikipedia, Zyzzyva