Introducing Animals

Is Amy Tan actually ‘thrilled’ a leech is named after her?

Novelist answers one of biology’s persistent questions

CT scans of leech

THRILLING ANATOMY  Micro CT scans from different angles show that the innards of the leech newly named for Amy Tan devotes a lot of space to eating (false color gray, digestive tissue) and reproducing (red and various blues show male organs; pink denotes female organs). 

M. Tessler et al/Zoologica Scripta 2016

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

View 3-D reconstruction of leech

At last Science News is able — thanks to novelist Amy Tan — to illuminate a question nagging readers (and often writers) of stories about new species named in honor of celebrities.