When a scientist discovers a new species, they get to give that animal (or plant) a new name. Sometimes those names are long, boring latin terms. But other times, they take their cues from pop culture for some really awesome names. Here are just a few examples:
When Ellen Miller and her team found these fossils of a previously undescribed extinct species resembling a hippo, they named it Jaggermeryx naida after Rolling Stone singer Mick Jagger. It got the name because the animal had “large, sensitive lips.”
In the Star Wars prequels the Midi-chlorians were introduced as a fictional microbe that gave people the power of the force. Fans weren’t all that supportive of the choice. However, in 2006 when Nate Lo discovered a new species of bacteria that infected the ovaries of ticks, he suggested they be named after the force giving microbes.
Lady Gaga has an entire genus of ferns named after her, and one of the species in that genus is the Gaga germanotta, after Gaga’s given name of Stephanie Germonotta.
Each of the Sex Pistols, including Sid Vicious, has an extinct trilobite species named after them.
When this reddish-purple worm was discovered near the seafloor, researches thought the lips on the sides of its head resembled the wise green alien from Star Wars. Yoda purpurata translates to “purple Yoda.
Pedro Peloso and his team found 21 specimens of a very small frog with a very big voice in the Brazilian Amazon that turned out to be a brand new species. THe team referred to the frog as the “bat frog” and that eventually became Dendropsophus ozzyi, in reference to Ozzy Osbourne who once bit the head of a bat off during a concert.
