Entertainment
Jennifer Lopez Has a Bug Named After Her & 8 Other Celebrity-Inspired Bug Names
On the lower end of the success spectrum, Jennifer Lopez's music has inspired some seriously questionable choreography and probably some pretty sweaty workouts. On the other hand, it helped her land a spot on Dancing With the Stars and a Billboard Icon Award. Her latest "accolade" lands somewhere in the middle. A group of scientists named a water mite after J. Lo because they listened to her music while researching. Gross, but nice.
Lopez isn't the only celebrity causing scientists to bug out. Check out these 8 celebrities who inspired bug names.
Emilia Clarke
Clarke plays the mother of three dragons as Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones, but since dragons aren’t real, scientists named a slug after her.
Stephen Colbert
The universe responded to Colbert’s request to have a species named after him. One is a spider and the other is a Venezuelan diving beetle with hair-lined reproductive organs.
Angelina Jolie
A biologist named a newly discovered species of trapdoor spider after Angelina Jolie. Depending on who you ask, Jolie being named after a trapdoor spider may seem most appropriate.
Kate Winslet
Winslet named her son Bear, so it’s safe to assume she loves animals. Hopefully, she has the same love for bugs, because she’s the inspiration behind scientists naming the rain forest-dwelling beetle Agra katewinsletae.
Beyoncé
With a moniker like “Queen Bey,” it was only a matter of time before someone made a literal association between Beyoncé and insects. The songstress inspired the name Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae, given to a horse fly from Australia because of its glittery gold bottom.
Mick Jagger
Aegrotocatellus Jaggeri is a tiny bug named after Rolling Stone’s Mick Jagger. Odds are it doesn’t move like Jagger because it’s extinct.
President Obama
Apparently the president’s grin wins over more than babies and voters. A group of Yale researchers named a dinosaur after Pres. Obama, calling it Obamadon gracilis because the prehistoric lizard’s “tall, straight teeth” reminded the scientists of his great smile. Pres. Obama is also the inspiration behind caloplaca obamae, an orange-hued lichen species.
Harrison Ford
The Star Wars star is accustomed to being rewarded with fame, admiration and big bucks, but narration of a documentary for the Natural History Museum in London came with an unusual form of payment—having a spider named in his honor.
