I know science has a long history of borrowing names from mythology when naming discoveries (look at a map of the solar system for a minute, and you’ll see that often times, these scientists have an interesting sense of humor), but the recent naming of a new species of beetle after Venus seems a bit…odd.
Sure, they’re both deities who influence love, but they are parent and child. I’m surprised the scientists didn’t make that connection in naming the related species, since they clearly wanted to hearken back to mythology for the beetles, but maybe the key word here is illustrated: I wonder if the naming convention owes more to the depictions of classical figures in art rather than in myth. If that’s the case, what an interesting question: if we ignore the stories and oral traditions, what do the paintings, frescos, and sculpture of the gods and goddesses tell us about them?