Amy Tan to be honoured by naming of new species - of leech

Chtonobdella tanae named after the Joy Luck Club author because of her longstanding support for the American Museum of Natural History, joining a host of wildlife, asteroids and dinosaurs named after authors

Amy Tan is happy. Not because of booming sales or critical acclaim, but because the author of books including The Bonesetter's Daughter and The Joy Luck Club has just had a species of leech named after her.

Chtonobdella tanae is a tiny Australian leech, and is, said the researchers announcing its name, "the first new species of invertebrate without chitinous or calcified tissues (like a shell or exoskeleton) to be described with computed tomography (CT) scanning".