Species of wasp named after Bruins' Tuukka Rask
People name things after athletes all the time. Cars, pets, even children — have you met Malkin Crosby Long yet? — can get their moniker based off of someone’s favorite team or player. But what about a certain species of insect? That’s the case for Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask as he's been bestowed with such an honor.
According to the Boston Globe, a species of wasps was discovered in Kenya by a team that included a Bruins fan who moved to Africa 25 years ago. Meet Thaumatodryinus tuukkaraski!
“That’s funny. That’s pretty neat,” Rask said when told about the honor.
The discovery will be documented in an upcoming issue of the scientific journal Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae.
“This species is named after the acrobatic goaltender for the Finnish National ice hockey team and the Boston Bruins, whose glove hand is as tenacious as the raptorial fore tarsus of this dryinid species,” the authors wrote in the paper, which has been accepted and will be published in April.
There are plenty of connections between this wasp and Rask. First, its colors are black and yellow, like the Bruins. Second, the project was supported by the Finnish government, Rask’s native country. And, per the Globe, the “grasping front legs of the female have claspers that look vaguely like goalie gloves.”
Hey, whattya know, they kind of do; like a reverse Dan Blackburn with the two gloves.
We're now looking forward to the discovery of a rare species of giraffe -- Giraffa camelozdeno retichara --being named after the Bruins captain.
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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