It’s not easy identifying a new species. You’ve got to trek into the wilderness and gather up critters that are possibly venomous, probably squirmy and definitely want nothing to do with you. And then you’ve got to determine precisely the toe joint or spinal segment or telltale gene sequence that distinguishes your species from all others. But then comes the fun part: you get to name it. Celebrities have been the inspiration of late and the announcement of the Skywalker hoolok gibbon (named after Luke Skywalker) or the Naopalpa donaldtrumpi (above), a tiny species of moth which seems to share The Donald’s signature hair—are only the latest examples. Here are the top 10 other species named after members of the red carpet crowd.
Moth species Neopalpa donaldtrumpi named after Donald TrumpVazrick Nazari—ZooKeysThe Skywalker hoolok gibbon, named after Star Wars’ Luke.Fan Peng-Fei/ZSLPachygnatha zappa: Cameroonian spider with an abdominal marking resembling Frank Zappa's signature mustache. A bit of a gender reversal though: it's only the females that have the 'stache.Bosmans & BosselaersGaga monstraparva: An entire genus of lacy fern named after Lada Gaga. Why? The leaves of the plant bear a striking resemblance to the outfit the Momma Monster wore at the 52nd Grammy Awards.Fay-Wei LiAvahi cleesei: A woolly lemur from western Madagascar named after Monty Python’s John Cleese. The scientific literature does not address if the little guy has a silly walk.E.E. Louis Jr.—Magascar biodiversity partnershipHyloscirtus princecharlesi: Prince Charles, the future king, might have preferred a lion, but he’ll have to settle for a spotted Ecuadorean tree frog.CopiaAgaporomorphus colberti: If a Venezuelan diving beetle could wear a hat, he’d tip it to his namesake Stephen Colbert. It’s not the first time the leader of Colbert Nation has had his name attached to something. In 2009, NASA invited the public to vote online for the name of a new module on the International Space Station. Colbert wasn’t on the list, but he won in a write-in landslide. The space agency compromised with the Colbert exercise treadmill, housed in the properly named Tranquility module.Courtesy of Arizona State UniversityAgathidium vaderi: Darth Vader, meet your real son, a slime mold beetle that skitters along beaches. Maybe there’s been no paternity test yet, but do not tell us the armor doesn’t match.Creative CommonsAgathidium cheneyi: Science is supposed to be nonpartisan, so we will infer nothing from the fact that the nearly identical first cousin to the Vader beetle is named after former veep Dick Cheney. Really, just a coincidence, nothing to see here.Quentin WheelerJaggermeryx naida: The 19-million year old hippo is extinct, but Mick and the Stones play on. Take that, evolution.John SibbickAgra schwarzeneggeri: Ah-nold might not like a beetle walking around with his name, but it's actually meant to be an honor. The critter has remarkably developed forearms (or, really, middle legs), like the former guy himself.Karolyn DarrowKootenichela deppi: The Edward Scissorhands of 505-million-year-old fossils, the extinct scorpion-like species had front claws that bore a striking resemblance to the hands of the character Johnny Depp made famous.Imperial College London
