Are insect names Jolie? Or the Pitts?

An astonishing number of insect species have been named after celebrities over the years, including US President Barack Obama and actor Angelina Jolie, who have both lent their names, willy-nilly perhaps, to varieties of spiders. So, it was about time the latter’s husband also found mention in the insect world, albeit as the name for a wasp species Conobregma bradpitti, which begins life as a parasite on moth or butterfly caterpillars. As insects do not usually inspire the same warm feelings as flowers, stars or ships — also often named after famous personalities — being conjoined to spider and wasp species is probably not something the successful couple ever dreamt of adding to their impressive list of achievements. While Pitt can also boast a minor planet 29132 being named after him just last year, the prize in the name stakes should go to Lady Gaga who has 19 species of an entire genus of ferns named after her.

But there appears to be a befitting sting in the wasp tale too. Naming a generally golden insect — though this one is more brown than yellow — whose very cognomen not-so-coincidentally has become an acronym for a particular class of people, after the blonde and blue-eyed poster-boy for a certain kind of appeal, bespeaks a rather witty mind. Was the inspiration only entomological and not etymological?