'Legs for days': RuPaul inspiration for newly named Australian fly

Just when we thought the world's most famous drag queen couldn't get any more iconic, RuPaul is now yielding influence over the biology world.

RuPaul has become the first drag queen to be immortalised as a soldier fly, which is adorned in rainbow colours, has "legs for days" and serves a "fierce" look.

So, for Dr Bryan Lessard, an entomologist for Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), it was an 'obvious decision' to name the species Opaluma rupaul.

The fly is part of the new Australian genus Opaluma (from the Latin words for opal and thorn), to reflect the iridescent colours of flies in this group and the distinctive thorn on the underside of their abdomens.

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Dr Lessard said he decided to name the striking fly after the icon while watching a series of Drag Race.

“I was watching a lot of RuPaul’s Drag Race while examining the species and I know it would challenge RuPaul on the runway serving fierce looks,” Dr Lessard told The Guardian.

“It has a costume of shiny metallic rainbow colours, and it has legs for days.

"I think once (Ru) sees the fly she’ll realise it’s quite fierce and hopefully appreciate the name.”

Dr Lessard first caused a stir among colleagues when he named a fly after Beyonce a decade ago.

But he said that naming species after pop culture icons can attract the attention of citizen scientists and policy makers to include these species in bushfire recovery efforts.

Dr Lessard said: “Many of the thirteen new soldier flies I named are from areas impacted by the Black Summer bushfires. “Two of these, Opaluma opulens and Antissella puprasina, have now been recognised as endangered species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List and are known only from Lamington National Park in Queensland, an area that was significantly burned in the bushfires. “Soldier flies are valuable in the ecosystem. The larvae recycle nutrients from dead plants and animals, while adults are pollinators of some Australian plants.”