The scientific name of a new insect now named after Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, and that inhabits the forests of the Sierra de Tapalpa — in the south of Jalisco — is Photinus guillermodeltoroi. 

The idea of naming the animal after the famed Mexican director was a consensus among the members of the research team, who wanted to pay homage to the filmmaker and his love of insects, according to Geovanni Rodríguez, an academic at the Zaragoza School of Higher Studies at UNAM, who spoke to EFE.

The name also spawned because the Mexican director was born in the same place where the new species was found. 

"It was a new species for Jalisco and we were looking for someone to whom we could dedicate it and we decided to choose him because of his trajectory, it is a small recognition of his work, besides the fact that his knowledge of insects is well known, as in the film Mimic or Cronos," Rodriguez told EFE. 

The new insect species is characterized by its light brown color and is not the only one that has been discovered in recent years. The study "Luciérnagas (Coleóptera Lampyridae) del Norte Occidente de México," headed by UNAM academic Santiago Zaragoza, also states that another 90 new species have been found in the country.

In the study, 48 species have been named similarly or after Mexican figures, such as the writer Juan Rulfo Photinus juanrulfoi and painters Frida Kahlo Photinus fridakahloae and Diego Rivera Photinus diegoriveroi. 

In Mexico there are 281 recognized, registered and documented fireflies, although researchers and scientists estimate that there may be another 80 species that have not yet been identified.