Top Ten Animals Named After Star Wars Characters or Star-Wars-Related Things
*plays Star Wars opening track* A long time ago, in a strange strange world of animals......Ahem, there are lots of Star Wars fans here. Heck, even some scientists are Star Wars fans too. They even named animals they've discovered after Star Wars characters or stuffs. There are quite a lot of animals with Star Wars related names, here are some of them
Han Solo is a species of agnostic trilobite
It's the only member of its genus. Originally, the "Han" part was a reference to Han Chinese, which the largest ethnic group in China, and the "Solo" part references to the fact that it's the youngest Diplagnostidae fossil found to that date, suggesting it was the last surviving member of the family. But the namer of this animal, Samuel Turvey, stated somewhere else that he named it Han Solo because his friends dared him to
It's also frozen in rock like him...or is that someone else?
Wockia Chewbacca is a species of moth
The scientists who discovered this moth (along with Wockia Mexicana) referred Chewbacca as a "very large and hairy Wookie", and this large and hairy dull grey moth has similar characteristics as him
Note: That picture I added is Polemistus abnormis. I couldn't find a picture of Polemistus yoda, Polemistus vaderi, or Polemistus chewbacca
Polemistus Yoda is a species of wasp
Polemistus Yoda, along with Polemistus Vaderi and Polemistus Chewbacca, were named by Arnold Menke and Charles Vincent. Arnold Menke also named other 2 wasps Aha Ha and Pison Eu (pronounced like "Piss on you")
Adelomyrmex vaderi is a species of ant
It's was named after Darth Vader perhaps because it towers over its kinds, like Darth Vader. It's one of the largest ants of its genus
Tetramorium Jedi is a species of ant
It was named after the Jedi, main protagonists of Star Wars, because the entomologists who discovered it also discovered many other ant species at the same time, so they need to look for names from many sources
Darthvaderum greensladeae is a species of mite
It's the only member of the species, and sometimes referred to as Novazelandiella greensladeae
Peckoltia greedoi is a species of armored catfish
It's named because of its resembelance to Greedo, a bounty hunter that appears in the first movie
Aptostichus sarlacc is a species of trapdoor spider
Named after Sarlacc, a monster that appeared in Return of the Jedi. Well, this name suits the animal well, because trapdoor spiders lure prey into a pit-shaped web which resembles a Sarlacc's mouth
Yoda purpurata is a species of acorn worm
It was named after its large lips which resembles Yoda's ears. The name means "purple Yoda"