Argot Navis

Saw this on BBC News just now. That’s a pretty good eBay score, I’d say. There seems to be no shortage of amber on eBay (most of it made into jewelry, apparently), but I’d imagine that it very rarely contains a previously unknown species. Not too bad for about $40. I’m a bit disappointed about the name, though:

“I had thought it would be rather nice to call it Mindarus ebayi,” said Dr Harrington.

“Unfortunately using flippant names to describe new species is rather frowned upon these days.”

Call me old-fashioned, but I think more new species should have flippant names.