Do you want to know a secret? There’s a beetle in the Vondelpark that is named after The Beatles.

Ptomaphagus thebeatles, a bottom-dweller just 2mm long, has now found his place in the limelight thanks to Dutch scientists and citizen researchers with a sense of humour.

They needed very little help in coming up with a name when they discovered the tiny beastie, according to a press release, because he was found near the Hilton Hotel where 51 years ago John Lennon and Yoko Ono attracted the attention of the world by doing a ‘bed in for peace.’

‘Insects are often named after famous musicians,’ said Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit, where one of the biologists Joris Koene works. ‘A treehopper has been named after Lady Gaga, a fly after Beyoncé and four types of damselfly have been named after all Queen band members. Strangely, a beetle has never been named after the Beatles. This has now been rectified in a new publication in the scientific journal, Contributions to Zoology.’

Could someone please alert Mr. @PaulMcCartney? https://t.co/tq0djqQMmX

— Taxon Expeditions (@TaxonExped) June 4, 2020

The day tripper expedition series, where normal members of the public join scientists to help improve our understanding of the natural world, is organised by Taxon Expeditions and the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre. Last year one of its outings led to the identification of a new parasitic wasp, named the Aphaereta vondelparkensis.

Biologist Iva Njunjić, co-founder of Taxon Expeditions, said that there are specimens of this beetle in various collections, from countrias such as Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, but that it had never previously be named.

‘It’s really cute,’ said Njunjić, who is an expert on cave beetles. ‘It lives in leaf litter, feeds on fungi and is a brown reddish colour. We just found one so it could even be a bit rare in the Vondelpark. We just thought “thebeatles” was kind of a cool name.’

The organisation normally organises expeditions to remote areas for people who want to study science and biology and help discover new species, but has been working more locally during the coronavirus. Its next magical mystery tour is set to be to Borneo in September, travel regulations allowing.

And if Njunjić were asked to think of a Beatles song for the newly-named beetle? ‘”Let it be” is a good one,’ she said.