Interesting name for a parasite.
Newly Discovered Flatworm Is Named After Obama Introducing *Baracktrema obamai* By Kate Baggaley <http://www.popsci.com/popsci-authors/kate-baggaley> Yesterday at 12:50pm [image: The blood fluke *Baracktrema obamai*] <http://www.popsci.com/newly-discovered-blood-fluke-is-named-after-obama> Roberts et al. (2016) The blood fluke *Baracktrema obamai*, which represents both a new genus and species of parasitic flatworm. A new species of blood fluke was found infecting the lungs of turtles in Malaysia. This parasitic flatworm has been dubbed *Baracktrema obamai*, in honor of the President of the United States (who is the fifth cousin twice removed of one of the discovering scientists). *B. obamai* is described <http://www.journalofparasitology.org/doi/full/10.1645/15-893> in the August issue of the *Journal of Parasitology* as having a long, thread-like body. So far, it’s shown up in two freshwater turtles, the black marsh turtle (*Siebenrockiella crassicollis*) and southeast Asian box turtle (*Cuora amboinensis*). The scientists found clusters of tens to hundreds of fluke eggs in the turtles’ lung alveoli, the tiny sacs where blood receives oxygen and gets rid of carbon dioxide. How these eggs get outside to hatch and infect new hosts isn’t clear, although making the turtles cough is probably involved. *[H/T Carl Zimmer <https://twitter.com/carlzimmer/status/773900858702585856>]* http://www.popsci.com/newly-discovered-blood-fluke-is-named-after-obama -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
