Researchers who helped discover a new species of Mexican butterfly are offering to sell the naming rights to raise money to fund more research. Co-discoverer Andrew Warren is hoping to raise at least $50,000 by auctioning(拍卖) off the rights to name the 4-inch “owl eye” butterfly, which lives in Sonora, a Mexican state bordering Arizona.
“That would support at least two years of research for our team down in Mexico,” Warren said. “Money goes a long way down here in Mexico.”
According to the scientific tradition, discoverers of a new species have the say in naming it. In recent years, some discoverers have auctioned off their naming rights to raise money.
Warren said the amount being sought for the butterfly is not out of the question, noting that naming rights for a new monkey species brought in $650,000 two years ago. A group of 10 new fish species that went on the naming auction block at the same time earlier this year brought in a total of $2 million.
The butterfly discovered by Warren and researcher George Austin ranges as far north as Mexico.
The butterfly was actually in a collection, misidentified as an example of another new species, at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at the Florida Museum of National History in Gainesville, said Warren. They soon began the hard process of determining that it was indeed a “new” model of butterfly.
After checking photos and comparing it with other known species, they determined it was a separate species.
Where did the researchers discover the new species of butterflies?
A. In Sonora. B. In Mexico state.
C. In a place in US. D. Near the US-Mexico border.
Why will the researchers sell the naming rights of the butterfly?
To raise money for wildlife protection.
To raise money for more research.
To cause people’s attention to the new discovery.
To cover the cost of the research.
When the butterfly was first discovered, people thought ______.
it was a new species at once
it wasn’t a species of American butterfly
it belonged to the monarch branches
it belonged to a new species
We can infer from the passage that ______.
the new species of butterfly live both in the US and Mexico
it took the researchers a lot of efforts to determine the new species of butterfly
the researchers are not sure whether they can get the money they want from the auction
it is the first time that the new species of butterfly has been found