A new species of mushroom discovered in Borneo has been named SpongeBob SquarePants by researchers. The fungus, Spongiforma squarepantsii, was found by biologists from San Francisco State University during an expedition to Borneo’s forests. They were inspired to give it the name SpongeBob because of its sea-sponge shape. Also, when viewed under an electron microscope, parts of the fungus look like a seafloor carpeted in tube sponges, “reminiscent of the fictitious home of SpongeBob,” according to biology professor Dennis Desjardin, who has discovered more than 200 fungi species.

 

In 2009, Kerry Knudsen, a researcher at the University of California, Riverside Herbarium, named a lichen after President Barack Obama—Caloplaca obamae—and in 2005, entomologists Quentin Wheeler and Kelly Miller named a species of slime-mold beetle after President George W. Bush—Agathidium bushi. They also named a slime mold beetle after Darth Vader.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Spongebob Lends Name to New Mushroom Species (BBC News)

A Fungus Named after SpongeBob (interview with Dennis Desjardin, EarthSky)

Spongiforma Squarepantsii, A New Species of Gasteroid Bolete from Borneo (by Dennis Desjardin, Kabir Peay and Thomas Bruns, Mycologia)

Taking a Lichen to Obama (by David Wallechinsky and Jackie Gallegos, AllGov)