Naming Nature: Where Taxonomy Meets Pop Culture

From David Bowie’s lightning bolt immortalised in the iridescent fur of a spider, to Jackie Chan’s legacy leaping into the scientific name of a day gecko, taxonomy can be as much about culture as classification. While taxonomy anchor species in the rigour of Latin binomials, many also carry stories, tributes and winks to the world beyond biology where pop culture can help shine a light on conservation.

Creatures of Pop Culture

In honour of the recent discovery of the well-endowed tarantula genus Satyrex, we explore five other animals uniquely named after other pop culture figures:

Jackie’s day gecko (Cnemaspis jackieii)

Deep in the rocky streambeds of India’s Western Ghats lives a dwarf gecko so quick on its feet, scientists named it after martial arts legend and pop culture icon Jackie Chan. Whilst its mottled cryptic pattern blends seamlessly with granite outcrops, Cnemaspis jackieii or Jackie’s day gecko upon approach is able to swiftly dart from rock to rock, retreating into the narrowest of crevices. At only 3 cm long snout to vent, it is barely bigger than a paperclip and among one of the smallest members of its genus. It’s small size, long digits and recurved claws allow it to scramble tricky terrain, making this lizard quite the stunt man. Like other Cnemaspis, it is active during the day – a rarity among geckos.

The David Bowie spider (Heteropoda davidbowie)

Heteropoda davidbowie is a bright orange huntsman spider found in Malaysia, Singapore and Sumatra, named in tribute to David Bowie’s “Glass Spider” track and his Ziggy Stardust alter ego. The males are covered in dense hairs, bright orange to yellow in colour, with distinctive bandings on their legs. Like their name would suggest, H. davidbowieand other huntsman spiders actively stalk and hunt their prey across tree trunks and rocks using their laterigrade legs instead of building webs. Arachnologist Peter Jäger chose the name both as a pop culture homage and to put a spotlight on biodiversity conservation. It is part of a larger taxonomical effort to document the poorly studied Asian Heteropoda, a genus containing over 160 species. In Bowie’s words, “we can be heroes, just for one day”, even if you are a spider.

The Chewbacca weevil (Trigonopterus chewbacca)

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” lived Trigonopterus chewbacca – a tiny flightless weevil from the tropical forests of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. With thick, hair-like scales spanning its heads and legs, its name is a pop culture reference to the iconic Star Wars Wookiee. Although Chewbacca towers at 7.5 ft tall, T. chewbacca is no larger than 3 mm – proof that size doesn’t matter when it comes to gaining a legendary reputation. T. chewbacca underscores the remarkable diversity and endemism of the genus Trigonopterus, whose species often inhabit only single locales in tropical forests, relying on their unique morphology – compact bodies, thick scales and a characteristic thanatosis (playing dead) – to persist.

Hogwarts Dinosaur (Dracorex hogwartsia)

It may sound like a creature out of J.K. Rowling’s famed wizarding world, but Dracorex hogwartsia roamed our world ~70-65 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous. Discovered in 2004 in South Dakota’s Hell Creek Formation, its genus name translates to “dragon king”, whilst its species epithet is a nod to Happy potter’s fictional school. Its skull is adorned with prominent cranial nodes and spikes, resembling a dragon’s head that distinguishes it from closely related taxa. Measuring in at ~3-4 meters long and weighing over 100 kg, this bipedal herbivore may not be a Hungarian horn-tail but was certainly deserving of its pop culture name.

The Sungazer (Smaug giganteus)

Smaug giganteus, the sungazer or giant girdled lizard, prowls the Highveld grasslands of South Africa. Named after Smaug, the legendary dragon from Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the species lives up to its pop culture moniker with its spiney armour and impressive size. Reaching 35-40 cm, the largest in the Cordylidae family, S. giganteus sports four prominent occipital spines on its head. In its natural environment (not Middle-earth), you can find these sungazers elevating their forelimbs to bask in the sun, living in self-excavated burrows and preying on insects and small invertebrates. When threatened, S. giganteus can wedge itself into rock cervices and inflate its body. This makes extraction near to impossible for predators. Once heavily collected for the pet trade, the species is now protected and listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

If you enjoyed these nods to pop culture, you can read about the latest pop culture taxonomy crossover involving well-endowed tarantulas here.