PHOENIX -- Comedian Steven Colbert received an early 45th birthday present from entomologists from Arizona State University and the University of New Mexico: a framed print of a Venezuelan diving beetle named after the political satirist.

The beetle, known as Agaporomorphus colberti, was named by ASU entomologist Quentin Wheeler and UNM entomologist Kelly Miller.

"Last year, Stephen shamelessly asked the science community to name something 'cooler' than a spider to honor him," Wheeler said. "His top choices were a giant ant or a laser lion. While those would be cool species to discover, our research involves beetles, and they are 'way cooler' than a spider any day."

The beetle shares its namesake with a trap-door spider (Aptostichus stephencolberti), a treadmill on the international space station (Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT), an elephant seal (Stelephant Colbert), a falcon (Esteban Colbert) and a bald eagle (Stephen Jr.).

Agaporomorphus colberti is not the only beetle Wheeler and Miller have named after a celebrity. The pair has named beetles to honor the late rock 'n' roll legend Roy Orbison and his widow Barbara (Orectochilus orbisonorum); for fictional "Star Wars" character Darth Vader (Agathidium vaderi); and for former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (Agathidium bushi, A. cheneyi and A. rumsfeldi).

Wheeler is director of the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University, in addition to being a university vice president, dean of ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and a professor in the School of Life Sciences.

Miller, a former student of Wheeler, is an assistant professor of biology at the University of New Mexico and curator of arthropods at UNM's Museum of Southwestern Biology.