A newly discovered species of snail has been named in honor of marriage equality, scientists in Taiwan report.

The existence of Aegista diversifamilia, a hermaphroditic land snail native to the Asian country, was announced Monday in the journal ZooKeys.

"When we were preparing the manuscript, it was a period when Taiwan and many other countries and states were struggling for the recognition of same-sex marriage rights," explained Dr. Yen-Chang Lee of Taipei's Academia Sinica. "It reminded us that Pulmonata land snails are hermaphrodite animals... They represent the diversity of sex orientation in the animal kingdom. We decided that maybe this is a good occasion to name the snail to remember the struggle for the recognition of same-sex marriage rights."

It sounds like Dr. Lee is mixing up gender and sexuality, but we still appreciate the honor!

Previously, diversifamilia was thought to be part of a larger group of snails. But researchers studied the snails' molecular markers and concluded they had two separate species.