UPDATED September 16
September 9, 2016 (Notre Dame, Ind.) — Professor Emeritus of biology Thomas Platt has named a parasite that lives in turtle's blood after President Barack Obama. It's a compliment, he says.
The idea of naming a parasite after the 44th president of the United States came to Platt after he learned that he was the fifth cousin, twice removed, of President Obama, according to an LA Times article.
Baracktrema obamai, Platt told the Associated Press, "are phenomenally, incredibly resilient organisms. I hold them in awe and with phenomenal respect."
The AP article ran yesterday and over 75 other sites have picked up the story since including Time, the Miami Herald, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Platt wrote an opinion piece published in the Washington Post, defending his decision to name a parsite after the President.
