A Saskatchewan scientist has named a new species of bee after Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.
Cory Sheffield says he came across a unique looking female bee while cataloguing insect specimens in a collection with the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina.
The museum’s curator of invertebrate zoology says that after examining the specimen for a second time, he determined it to be a new species of bee.
He named the new species Andrena hadfieldi.
Sheffield writes about the discovery and his decision to name it after Hadfield in a paper published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research.
He says he greatly respects Hadfield, who has also become a renowned speaker and science educator.
“After I had finished my research on the specimen and confirmed that it was indeed a new species, I thought of Colonel Hadfield, someone I have immense respect for,” Sheffield said in a statement Monday.
He said he asked Hadfield for permission to name the bee after him.