This might have nothing to do with science, but think of the social media cred!

"Moving forward the 'they' can and should be used as a suffix to new species for those that want to be identified outside of the gender binary," said the study author, Dr. Douglas Booher.

"They?"

Don't these people watch movies?

When naming new species, the first part of the name refers to the genus the species belongs to, in this case, "Strumigenys."

The second part of the name is the species, which typically honors a person followed by a suffix indicating that person's gender.

"New species are often named after people, such as experts in a particular field..."

In this case, Jeremy Ayers, a Georgia activist and artist who is expert in not knowing much of anything about ants.

So, "ayers" it is.

"...but standard practice only differentiates between male and female personal names – the ending -ae for a woman or -i for a man."

The problem here is obvious if you are looking for a problem and won't stop until you find one.

What if the person you want to honor identifies as non-binary?

This was the problem Dr. Booher wanted to solve... even though Ayers was a man who, while gay, was in fact quite binary.

But nevermind that. When you are obsessed with checking as many intersectional boxes as you can, you won't let anything stop you.

Besides, a friend of Ayers (and no less an authority in writing late 20th-century pop songs) – Michael Stipe of REM fame – thought it was a good idea and even wrote the etymology section of Booher's paper naming the ant.

"I cannot think of another person who was more fascinated with nature and language than Jeremy, so this honor is a perfect fit for his memory and legacy," said Stipe.

And so, Ayer's is an artist, photographer, writer, and gardener who will forever have his name associated with a misgendered ant:

"Strumigenys ayersthey."

'"They' recognizes non-binary gender identifiers in order to reflect recent evolution in English pronoun use – 'they, them, their' and address a more inclusive and expansive understanding of gender identification," said the team.

"Evolution" in pronouns, not ants. Despite the scientists' best efforts, they appear to remain cisbugs.

Regardless, keep an eye on said ants: