Scutoid

The scientist have discovered a new shape while studying epithelial cells.  Scutoid is geometry's newest shape.

The scutoid shape was named after this top-down view of a beetle’s scutellum.

Image: Pedro Gómez-Gálvez et al. (Nature Communications)

The scientists decided to name the scutoid after the scutellum of a beetle (a part of its thorax), because the two look similar from a top-down view.

Javier Buceta, systems biologist at Lehigh University and co-author, was grateful for the chance to name a new geometric shape.

Learn something new everyday.