A newly discovered small shrimp-like crustacean has been named after pop superstar, Elton John.
Elton John and his famous footwear
James Thomas, an American scientist from the Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, discovered the creature while working in the remote coral reefs of Raja Ampat, Indonesia. The unusual crustacean, “with a greatly enlarged appendage” appeared under his microscope and conjured up images of the shoes Elton John wore as the Pinball Wizard” in the film adaptation of the rock opera “Tommy”.
Amazed by the amphipod’s unusual form, Thomas decided to call the crustacean Leucothoe Eltoni:
“I named the species in honour of Sir Elton John because I have listened to his music in my lab during my entire scientific career,” the lead author explains.
An invasive species gone unnoticed
The discovery of L. eltoni was published in the journal ZooKeys. Despite their tiny size, crustaceans such as L. eltoni provide important information about reef health. Interestingly enough, since its discovery, L. eltoni has been reported to be an invasive species. Since these types of “invasions” typically go unnoticed, regular environmental monitoring is of utmost importance, especially in tropical environments,” commented Thomas.
The science of naming species
So how do species get their names? Taxonomists are scientists who study and name new species. Although it might not sound exciting, taxonomy plays a vital scientific role. Dr. Amber Beavis, a research scientist and taxonomist at the Western Australian Museum, whose area of expertise is on spiders and other arachnids, recently explained her job in an interview with ABC.
According to Odd Onion, they often draw inspiration from various factors, such as the location the species was found in, the features of the animal, or the people the scientists happen to admire, like in the case of L. eltoni.
The Catalogue of Life attempts to index the world’s known species. It currently compiles data from 151 peer-reviewed taxonomic databases, that are kept by institutions around the world. The fifteenth edition of the catalogue lists 1.6 million species for all kingdoms as of April 2015, with coverage of well over three quarters of the estimated 1.9 million species known to science
What do you think of this crustacean’s name and the science of taxonomy? Share your views in the comments section below.
