Taiwan snail species named after same-sex rights

A new land snail species, Aegista Diversifamilia, has been so named to represent the struggle for same sex rights across the world.

The name means the diverse forms of human families.

"When we were preparing the manuscript, it was a period when Taiwan and many other countries and states were struggling for the recognition of same-sex marriage rights," explained study co-author Yen-Chang Lee from the Academia Sinica in Taiwan.

"It reminded us that Pulmonata land snails are hermaphrodite animals, which means they have both male and female reproductive organs in single individual," Lee added.

"They represent the diversity of sex orientation in the animal kingdom. We decided that maybe this is a good occasion to name the snail to remember the struggle for the recognition of same-sex marriage rights," Lee noted.

A. diversifamilia was long thought to be A. subchinensis from eastern Taiwan.

The new species is larger in shell size and flatter in shell shape than A. subchinensis.

The findings appeared in the journal ZooKeys.