Taylor Swift has a newly discovered bug genus named after her

Meet the newest members of the Swiftie universe. They're blonde, accented in red and have names like "Lover," "Fearless" and "Poets."

They've also been hiding out in Australia for decades.

Scientists have named a newly discovered genus of plant-feeding insects "Swiftiephylus" in honor of Taylor Swift.

Sarah Schroeder, a doctoral student in entomology at the University of California, Riverside, along with professor Christiane Weirauch, described the bugs in a study published Sept. 9 in the journal "Insect Systematics & Evolution." The pair examined 593 specimens collected throughout Australia between 1995 and 2004 and described 12 new species across five new genera.

"It felt authentic to me as a lifelong Swiftie to honor Taylor in this way, as well as bring attention to the diversity of insects that has yet to be discovered," Schroeder said in a UC Riverside release.

The four species are named the superstar: "Swiftiephylus taylorae," "Swiftiephylus amator," "Swiftiephylus intrepidus" and "Swiftiephylus poetorum."

The genus combines "Swiftie," the nickname for Swift's fans, with "phylus," a name commonly used for this group of insects. The second names are Latin takes on Taylor, lover, fearless and poets, respectively.

The paper formally describes the insects as "blonde" with varying red markings.

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/entertainment/