Newly discovered wasp named after Boston Bruins goalie Rask

Published October 20, 2015

Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40) of Finland, makes a save during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks in Chicago, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015. Boston won 6-2. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty) (The Associated Press)

There's a new buzz surrounding Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask.

A Boston-area researcher who was part of a team that discovered a new species of wasp in Kenya has named the insect Thaumatodryinus tuukkaraski in Rask's honor.

The Boston Globe (http://bit.ly/1JGNte9 ) reports that Robert Copeland, an entomologist at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi who grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, named the wasp after Rask to show his admiration for the player.

A journal article to be published in April says the name is fitting because Rask's "glove hand is as tenacious as the raptorial fore tarsus of this dryinid species."

Also, the project that led to the discovery was underwritten by the government of Finland, Rask's homeland.

Rask described the honor as "pretty neat."

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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/science/newly-discovered-wasp-named-after-boston-bruins-goalie-rask