Taylor Swift has officially had four newly discovered insect species named after her.
The tiny plant-eating bugs were found in Australia and have been given the genus name Swiftiephylus, a nod to the singer and her famously dedicated fanbase, known as Swifties.
Taylor Swift. Photo credit: Brian Friedman, Shutterstock
The four species are Swiftiephylus taylorae, Swiftiephylus amator, Swiftiephylus intrepidus and Swiftiephylus poetorum.
The names reference Swift herself as well as three of her albums, Lover, Fearless and The Tortured Poets Department.
The insects are pale yellow with red markings, which scientists say also reflects Swift's well-known blonde hair and red lipstick.
Taylor Swift. Photo credit: Featureflash Photo Agency, Shutterstock
Sarah Schroeder, a doctoral student in entomology at the University of California, Riverside, was responsible for naming the insects.
As a lifelong Swift fan, she said it felt natural to honour the singer while also drawing attention to the huge number of insect species that have yet to be discovered.
The four Swift-inspired insects are among 12 new species described by scientists in the journal Insect Systematics and Evolution.
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They belong to the Miridae family, the world's largest family of true bugs, which contains more than 11,000 known species.
The insects were collected in Australia between 1995 and 2004 but had remained in museum collections before scientists formally identified them.
Schroeder and her adviser, entomology professor Christiane Weirauch, examined 593 specimens from the American Museum of Natural History and the Australian Museum.
The newly identified insects live alongside Australian she-oaks and feed on the plants, but they are not known to cause any damage.
Scientists believe their cream and red colouring may help them camouflage themselves among the red and orange structures of she-oak flowers.
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Researchers say millions of insect species could still be unknown to science, making the work of identifying and naming them important for conservation.
Schroeder said: “Taxonomy is the cornerstone of conservation. If we don’t describe species, we don’t know they exist and can’t conserve them.”
She added that naming the insects after Swift was a way to celebrate both the singer and the importance of conservation science.
