© 2025 KUNR
Illustration of rolling hills with occasional trees and a radio tower.
Serving Northern Nevada and the Eastern Sierra
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our spring fund drive is happening now and your gift will go twice as far thanks to an anonymous donor matching pledges up to $20,000!
Click here to make a gift to KUNR or increase your sustaining membership and have it matched today. 🩵

A Virginia Tech entomologist named a new millipede species after Taylor Swift

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Derek Hennen is a Virginia Tech scientist and a huge fan of Taylor Swift. So when his team discovered a new species of millipede in Taylor Swift's home state of Tennessee, he named it after her. The Swift Twisted-Claw Millipede is one of many species Hennen's team discovered, and Swift is not the only one with a nom de millipede. One is named for the Virginia Tech Hokies, and another is named for Hennen's wife.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLANK SPACE")

TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) And I'll write your name.

INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.