Funny Animal Names That Really Exist - Stars and Celebrities
Here are fun scientific names for animals!
Some scientists are such big film fans that they named animals and species after their favorite actors, singers, comic and cartoon characters. Hilarious!
Bambiraptor
A dinosaur (named after the cartoon character Bambi)
Darthvaderum
A kind of beetle mite (named after the Star Wars bad guy Darth Vader)
Eriovixia gryffindori
An Indian spider, whose pointed, cone-shaped rump resembles the talking magic hat from Harry Potter.
Gollum
A type of shark (named after Gollum from the book/film Lord of the Rings)
Grouvellinus leonardodicaprioi
A beetle native to Malaysia where it lives in the water. It was named in honor of Oscar actor Leonardo DiCaprio's commitment to biodiversity and climate change.
Hyloscirtus tolkieni
This tree frog was named after J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of the fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. Its appearance is very unusual, because it has a gray-brown back, yellow and black spots, and pink eyes. It looks like a fantasy creature, so it was named after the author.
Leptanilla voldemort
Leptanillia is the scientific name for a family of tropical ants. In 2024, an ant was discovered in northwestern Australia. Because of its spooky appearance it was named after a villain from Harry Potter: Voldemort!
Myloplus sauron
In 2024, a new species of piranha was discovered. It was named after the evil Sauron from the Lord of the Rings. The reason: The animal has a circular shape like an eye and a dark, narrow, vertical stripe in the middle. This gives it the appearance of Sauron's “evil eye”. What's interesting is that piranhas actually eat meat, but this species is a "vegetarian".
Nannnaria swiftae
This is a centipede. It was named after the American singer and songwriter Taylor Swift.
Nelloptodes gretae
This is the name of a bright yellow and gold-colored beetle with long antennae, named after climate activist Greta Thunberg. His homeland is Kenya.
Polemistus chewbacca
A type of wasp (named after Han Solo’s furry friend in Star Wars)
Stichoplastoris asterix
A bird spider (named after Asterix)
Stichoplastoris obelix
A bird spider (named after Obelix)
Spintharus leonardodicaprioi
A cobweb spider native to the Caribbean. It was named after Leonardo DiCaprio for the same reasons as the Grouvellinus leonardodicaprioi beetle
Syconycteris hobbit
A bat named after the Hobbit people from the Lord of the Rings.
