<p>Under a microscope, the tiny beetle named in honor of China's president, Xi Jinping, looks fierce, with black, armourlike ridges and beaded antennae.<br /><br />Yet more important to Cheng-Bin Wang, the Prague-based Chinese entomologist who discovered and named it, the Rhyzodiastes (Temoana) xii eats rotten wood. That makes it a fitting symbol for Xi, whose campaign against official corruption is as important for China as the beetle's diet is for the health of its environment, Wang said in a telephone interview.<br /><br />"President Xi is the same. He is fighting corruption. That is so important," said Wang, 32, who added that his discovery last year excited him so much he could not sleep at night. He not only named it for Xi but added the word "wolf" in Chinese, for good measure, making it literally "Xi Surnamed Wolf Spine Carapace." (The last words indicate a beetle, which has a hard carapace, unlike the cockroach.)<br /><br />Irritating the leadership<br /><br />Wang's taxonomic gesture seems to have irritated China's vigilant propaganda bosses, who have moved fast to block references to the "Xi beetle" from China's heavily censored internet. Searches for the beetle's name failed to return results on Tuesday.<br /><br />In an email before the interview, Wang expressed concern that foreign news reports had portrayed him as "belittling" Xi by comparing him to a small insect. (The beetle is 0.3 inches long. Xi is 5-foot-11.)<br /><br />Indeed, some Chinese have been puzzling over the notion that a beetle could be named after their president, in a country where traditionally the leaders are shielded from criticism and anything that might be interpreted as ridicule. One website, Weiming Space, which is based in the United States but caters to Chinese around the world, even filed it under the "joke" section Monday.<br /><br />"I like Chairman Xi. Because of him, China is getting big and strong," Wang said. Like the president, "This beetle is rare, in 10 collecting trips I've never seen one."<br /><br /><em>____________________</em></p>.<p><em><br />Barack Obama has a Californian trapdoor spider named after him, the Aptostichus barackobamai. Then there's Obamadon, an extinct, toothy lizard. Nelson Mandela had not only a sea slug named after him, but its whole genus and family, a bigger honor, the Mandelia mirocornata. Among the beetles, the Agathidium bushi is named after George W Bush. The Aegomorphus wojtylai is named for Karol Wojtyla, who is perhaps better known as Pope John Paul II. Anophthalmus hitleri, a blind beetle that lives in caves in Slovenia, is named after Adolf Hitler</em></p>
<p>Under a microscope, the tiny beetle named in honor of China's president, Xi Jinping, looks fierce, with black, armourlike ridges and beaded antennae.<br /><br />Yet more important to Cheng-Bin Wang, the Prague-based Chinese entomologist who discovered and named it, the Rhyzodiastes (Temoana) xii eats rotten wood. That makes it a fitting symbol for Xi, whose campaign against official corruption is as important for China as the beetle's diet is for the health of its environment, Wang said in a telephone interview.<br /><br />"President Xi is the same. He is fighting corruption. That is so important," said Wang, 32, who added that his discovery last year excited him so much he could not sleep at night. He not only named it for Xi but added the word "wolf" in Chinese, for good measure, making it literally "Xi Surnamed Wolf Spine Carapace." (The last words indicate a beetle, which has a hard carapace, unlike the cockroach.)<br /><br />Irritating the leadership<br /><br />Wang's taxonomic gesture seems to have irritated China's vigilant propaganda bosses, who have moved fast to block references to the "Xi beetle" from China's heavily censored internet. Searches for the beetle's name failed to return results on Tuesday.<br /><br />In an email before the interview, Wang expressed concern that foreign news reports had portrayed him as "belittling" Xi by comparing him to a small insect. (The beetle is 0.3 inches long. Xi is 5-foot-11.)<br /><br />Indeed, some Chinese have been puzzling over the notion that a beetle could be named after their president, in a country where traditionally the leaders are shielded from criticism and anything that might be interpreted as ridicule. One website, Weiming Space, which is based in the United States but caters to Chinese around the world, even filed it under the "joke" section Monday.<br /><br />"I like Chairman Xi. Because of him, China is getting big and strong," Wang said. Like the president, "This beetle is rare, in 10 collecting trips I've never seen one."<br /><br /><em>____________________</em></p>.<p><em><br />Barack Obama has a Californian trapdoor spider named after him, the Aptostichus barackobamai. Then there's Obamadon, an extinct, toothy lizard. Nelson Mandela had not only a sea slug named after him, but its whole genus and family, a bigger honor, the Mandelia mirocornata. Among the beetles, the Agathidium bushi is named after George W Bush. The Aegomorphus wojtylai is named for Karol Wojtyla, who is perhaps better known as Pope John Paul II. Anophthalmus hitleri, a blind beetle that lives in caves in Slovenia, is named after Adolf Hitler</em></p>