The legendary Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays seemed both honored and perplexed by having a bug named
after him.
Being named after a bug has “weirded out” the six-time all-star, who twice led Major League Baseball in home runs
while with Toronto.
“I was quite taken aback. In addition to feeling honored, Bautista also expressed confusion to The U.S. Sun.
In 2018, Bob Anderson, a Canadian entomologist, gave Bautista the name of a new species of beetle. In honor of the
slugger that helped the Blue Jays make their long-awaited playoff comeback and is renowned for his iconic bat flip
following a home run against the Texas Rangers, Anderson dubbed it “Sicoderus bautistai.” It was an entirely strange
combination of feelings. I had no idea that was the typical course of events,” Bautista remarked.
“A scientist has the right to name everything they uncover, and for some reason, this gentleman chose my name. In a
way, that’s an honor; it’s strange because it’s a beetle.It’s kind of great that my name will probably be inscribed in
science books for a very long time.
Like Bautista, the weevil (beetle with the long snout) is a native of the Dominican Republic.
According to The Sun, throughout his thirty years of work at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Anderson
has identified roughly 120 different types of weevils.
Anderson told ESPN that Bautista’s bat-flip home run was the reason he decided to name this one after him.
