A team of Japanese and Austrian researchers has named a new mite species after Twitter following its discovery through photos posted on the social media platform by an amateur photographer visiting a fishing spot near Tokyo.
The new species — formally called Ameronothrus twitter — was spotted after Satoshi Shimano, a professor who specializes in the study of mites at Hosei University, came across the tweeted photos by chance and then contacted the poster to find out where they were taken.
Shimano said the find shows social media can "help speed up the time-consuming discovery of new species" and even "contribute to the development of science."