Paying $25,000 (£19,800) in the auction, EnviroBuild’s Aidan Bell bought the naming rights for the caecilian, a type of Panamanian amphibian, which he has chosen to call Dermophis donaldtrumpi after Donald Trump.

Bell said the small legless creature’s ability to bury its head in the ground matched Trump’s approach to global warming.

The naming rights were auctioned to raise money for the Rainforest Trust.

Bell said: “It is the perfect name. Caecilian is taken from the Latin caecus, meaning ‘blind’, perfectly mirroring the strategic vision President Trump has consistently shown towards climate change.”

He added: “EnviroBuild is not an overtly political organisation, but we do feel very strongly that everyone should do everything they can to leave the world in a better way than they found it. It was saddening to see another year without significant progress at the most recent round of COP talks, COP24 in Katowice. Further progress on the essential technical elements was blocked by the unusual alliance of USA, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait who also blocked the adoption of a key scientific report.”

Chris Redston, of Rainforest Trust UK, said: “Protecting the world’s remaining rainforests is now acknowledged as one of the most effective ways to mitigate climate change, yet every day nearly 70,000 acres of rainforest are destroyed forever. This is not only one of the main causes of climate change, but it is also having a devastating impact on endangered wildlife, indigenous communities and the planet’s weather patterns.”

The auction raised £145,300 for conservation.