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A newly identified Australian soldier fly species with metallic rainbow colouring and 'legs for days' has been named after international drag queen icon RuPaul.
Opaluma rupaul is among 150 animals named by national science agency, the CSIRO, and its partners during the past year.
It is part of a new genus that derives its name from the Latin words for opal and thorn, reflecting the group's gem-like colours and distinctive abdominal thorn.
he new Opal Thorn Soldier fly named after RuPaul, Opaluma RuPaul. A soldier fly has been named after RuPaul, Opaluma
An Opaluma rupaul specimen was collected more than 100 years ago but it wasn't identified as a species until National Research Collections Australia entomologist Bryan Lessard saw it a few years ago.
'I was watching a lot of drag race while I was describing the species and to me it was a no-brainer,' Dr
