Sir David Attenborough life patron of Australian Museum, with Tassie snail named in his honour

Iconic naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, 90, was in Sydney today where he became a life patron of the Australian Museum.

“The Australian Museum, when it was founded 190 years ago, had the extraordinary and unique responsibility of starting the first systematic collection of the animals and plants of an entire continent,” he said.

“Today it is a scientific centre of world importance and it is a great honour to be made one of its lifetime patrons.”

Australian Museum Trust president, Catherine Livingstone, said “There is no one else – you have no peer.”

A l35 to 45 millimetre snail Tasmanian snail will now be known as Attenborougharion rubicundus.

The creature is part snail, part slug, having a shell into which it can no longer retract. It was first described in 1978 and classified in the genus Helicarion.

Attenborough has had 12 species named after him, but the Tassie snail is the first genus named after the British broadcaster.

Source: Fairfax