So nature does have a sense of humour!
Scientists are having unbelievable success finding different species of animals. Most of them are highly outlandish like the “Neopalpa donaldtrumpi,” a moth with an incredible resemblance to the current President of the United States. The focus of this article, however, remarkably resembles a fairytale character, or more specifically, an artifact worn by a fairytale character.
The official scientific name of this arachnid is “Eriovixia gryffindori”, named after the fictional character Godric Gryffindor from J.K. Rowling’s world famous “Harry Potter” series. In addition to naming the creature, Javed Ahmed discovered it with another group of researchers in the mountainous Western Ghats region of south-western India! The term Eriovixia refers to “a genus of spiders in the Araneidae family.” If you are familiar with the books, then the name Gryffindori will definitely be registered in your brain. The shape of the spider’s body — conical, with a jaunty bend at the narrow tip, is reminiscent of the hat first owned by the famed wizard Godric Gryffindor. The scientific publication describing the discovery states the name is “an ode…for magic lost, and found, in an effort to draw attention to the fascinating, but often overlooked world of invertebrates, and their secret lives.”
"We were searching the area [when] we bumped into the spider" - Javed Ahmed
This definitely did not go unnoticed by the famous author J.K. Rowling. Javed Ahmed said: "How many science geeks and nerds get to name a species after their favourite character and actually get congratulated by the author?”
The public is astonished by this eye-catching discovery. Hopefully, you were astonished by this article too. Thanks for reading; until we meet again in time for the next species report!