--- title: Scientists Just Named a Tiny Moth After Donald Trump description: A new species of tiny moth has been named Neopalpa donaldtrumpi, after President-elect Donald Trump. canonical: https://time.com/4637403/tiny-moth-donald-trump/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-18T13:21:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:37:27.367Z article:section: Science og:title: Scientists Just Named a Tiny Moth After Donald Trump og:description: The moth's official name is Neopalpa donaldtrumpi og:url: https://time.com/4637403/tiny-moth-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ea3e5a4a3ff41b5/6988b5d3cd1bbab6aa7039f5/trump-moth.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: trump-moth og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scientists Just Named a Tiny Moth After Donald Trump twitter:description: The moth's official name is Neopalpa donaldtrumpi twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ea3e5a4a3ff41b5/6988b5d3cd1bbab6aa7039f5/trump-moth.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scientists Just Named a Tiny Moth After Donald Trump ## Video: Scientists Have Named a Moth After Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Scientists Have Named a Moth After Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/p8WbZFu8.m3u8) (0:47)  _Published 2017-01-18. The President-elect now has a moth named after him._ by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Jan 18, 2017 1:21 PM UTC  Moth species Neopalpa donaldtrumpi named after Donald Trump Moth species Neopalpa donaldtrumpi named after Donald TrumpVazrick Nazari—ZooKeys by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Jan 18, 2017 1:21 PM UTC A new species of tiny [moth](http://time.com/4410787/gypsy-moth-caterpillars-forests/) has been named after Donald Trump, partly because the [President-elect’s hairstyle](http://time.com/4339160/megyn-kelly-donald-trump-hair-real/) resembles the moth’s distinctive yellow and white scales. The minuscule creature, named _Neopalpa donaldtrumpi_, is the first species to bear the name of the soon-to-be president, whose inauguration is this Friday. It was discovered by Vazrick Nazari, a biologist and researcher from Ottawa, Canada. “The new species is named in honor of Donald J. Trump,” Nazari wrote in a [review of the species](http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=11411). “The reason for this choice of name is to bring wider public attention to the need to continue protecting fragile habitats in the U.S. that still contain many undescribed species. The specific epithet is selected because of the resemblance of the scales… of the moth to Mr. Trump’s hairstyle.” The micro-moth was discovered in southern California, but its habitat extends to Baja California in Mexico. Last year a critter found in the Peruvian Amazon hit the headlines because of its striking resemblance to Trump’s hairdo. The flannel moth caterpillar (_Megalopyge opercularis_), was subsequently dubbed the ‘Trumpapillar’ by researchers, [_Life Science_](http://www.livescience.com/56302-donald-trump-hair-caterpillar-photos.html) reports. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4637403/tiny-moth-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4637403/tiny-moth-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Scientists Just Named a Tiny Moth After Donald Trump","datePublished":"2017-01-18T13:21:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:37:27.367Z","description":"The moth's official name is Neopalpa donaldtrumpi","url":"https://time.com/4637403/tiny-moth-donald-trump/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Science topic","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ea3e5a4a3ff41b5/6988b5d3cd1bbab6aa7039f5/trump-moth.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ea3e5a4a3ff41b5/6988b5d3cd1bbab6aa7039f5/trump-moth.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"trump-moth","caption":"Moth species Neopalpa donaldtrumpi named after Donald Trump","creditText":"Vazrick Nazari—ZooKeys","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4637403/tiny-moth-donald-trump/","name":"Scientists Just Named a Tiny Moth After Donald Trump"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Scientists Have Named a Moth After Donald Trump","description":"The President-elect now has a moth named after him.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/p8WbZFu8/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-01-18T17:37:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/p8WbZFu8.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4637403/tiny-moth-donald-trump/","duration":"PT47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4637403/tiny-moth-donald-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```