The Chron’s Leah Garchik runs into Glen Parkite John Hafernik

P.S.: At last week’s Big Bang Gala at the California Academy of Sciences, I was seated next to John Hafernik, president of the academy’s board of trustees and an entomologist at San Francisco State. He described his passion for insects, from his boyhood in Texas. And in response to an inquiry, he said very modestly that yes, a butterfly has been named after him: The Piruna haferniki, as identified by a lepidopterist, is native to the Southwest, from Big Bend National Park south through Mexico.

The next day’s Googling allowed me to see a picture of it, shiny brown with a scattering of white speckles on its wings. A nice butterfly, but in truth, far less decorative than the scientist’s hand-printed beetle-adorned necktie.