Strigiphilus garylarsoni

Strigiphilus garylarsoni is a biting louse of a genus only found on owls. It is a member of the traditional suborder Mallophaga (the "chewing lice"). Currently the species is classified in the Ischnocera suborder and the Philopteridae family. The species has no common name. The louse's taxonomer, biologist Dale H. Clayton, named it after Gary Larson, creator of the cartoon The Far Side. In a letter to Larson, Clayton praised the cartoonist for "the enormous contribution that my colleagues and I feel you have made to biology through your cartoons," by which he presumably meant Larson's frequent use of science-related jokes, especially jokes related to entomology. In his book The Prehistory of the Far Side, Larson stated, "I considered this an extreme honor. Besides, I knew no one was going to write and ask to name a new species of swan after me. You have to grab these opportunities when they come along." (p. 171)