A group of scientists have described four new species of weevil beetles found in Papua New Guinea. One of them was named Trigonopterus chewbacca, after the Wookiee we all know and love from Star Wars. The other beetles have names that don’t relate to any pop culture franchise. The names were reported in the journal ZooKeys.
Researchers said that they named the weevil after the Wookiee because of its dense scales on the head and legs, which “reminds the authors of Chewbacca’s dense fur.”
Yeah, right. Dense scales. They were just looking for an excuse to name a species after a Star Wars character. But that’s a legitimate desire, as far as I’m concerned.
(Imagecredit: Van Dam, Laufa, Riedel)