Name a species 2012 – the results
We have received a fantastic response to this year’s competition, with thousands of entries from Guardian bloggers and Natural England events.
Our judges sat down on 11 July to pour over the suggestions and make their decisions. Natural England’s Dr Peter Brotherton said: “Species extinctions don’t just happen in rainforests, they also occur in the UK. These losses matter and often involve species that are unknown and unloved. This competition attracted entries from thousands of people of all ages, showing the real interest that exists in all of England’s wildlife, from sea slugs to spiders. These species have new names that resonate and delight, giving me real hope that they will become better known and have a bright future.”
At the end of the day, the overall best suggestion was agreed to be Cutpurse wasp, the name proposed for, Aporus unicolor, a wasp that breaks into the burrow of the purse web spider, paralyses it and uses the still-living body as a host for its own eggs.
All the winning names for 2012
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Name a Species 2011 – the results
We have received a fantastic response to this year’s competition, with more than 5,000 entries. As well as a high level of responses from the Guardian website, a huge number of entries were made by visitors to the Bristol Festival of Nature.
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(17 July 2010) Ten rare species get new English names.
