MANILA, Philippines – A newly discovered species of land snail found in Taiwan has been named in commemoration of marriage equality.
Christened as Aegista diversifamilia, the name was chosen because the snail is a hermaphrodite physiologically representing both sexes in the animal kingdom.
According to reports of BBC, the debate about same sex marriage all over the world was catching fire when they were about to write the manuscript. Because of this timely incident, they decided to name the snail to remember the struggle for the recognition of same-sex marriage rights.
The snail is extensive throughout eastern Taiwan, but the researchers previously thought that it was just an ordinary species of snail. It was in 2003, when they took part in a detailed study of the “new” snail with researchers from the National Taiwan Normal University.
The full report was published in Zookeys.