Scientists Name New Spider Species After Star Trek’s Greatest Heroes
Scientists have just given Star Trek names to three new spider species, who are named after Kirk, Spock, and McCoy from Star Trek: The Original Series. According to the New York Times, the new species were identified in Brazil and are part of the genus Roddenberryus, which itself was named in honor of Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry.
The names were also selected because of the spiders’ resemblance to Star Trek ships with their long abdomens and wide cephalothoraxes, which are thoraxes that are fused to the arachnids’ heads.
The names were chosen by zoologist Alexander Sánchez-Ruiz and Alexandre Bragio Bonaldo, a researcher at Brazil’s Paraense Emílio Goeldi Museum.
Regarding their Star Trek spiders, the pair wrote in an article appearing in the European Journal of Taxonomy on September 6 that the names are in honor of the ways in which Roddenberry and Star Trek have inspired young people to pursue careers in the sciences.
But the Star Trek spider names were also selected because of the spiders’ resemblance to Star Trek ships with their long abdomens and wide cephalothoraxes, which are thoraxes that are fused to the arachnids’ heads.
Dr. Bonaldo also pointed out that there is an extensive history among arachnologists of giving new species and genera scientific names that pay tribute to significant people or echo “pop culture and local customs.”
When the pair chose to make Star Trek spiders by choosing the genus name Roddenberryus, they said that naming the individual species after Captain James T. Kirk, Dr. Leonard McCoy, and First Officer Spock from the original Enterprise seemed “only logical.”
The genus is within the arachnid family Caponiid, a major distinction of which is having two eyes instead of eight, which is the most common number for spiders to have. Spiders in the family Caponiid also have pale Claws and abdomens, bristles, rows of teeth, and orange carapaces.
Three new spider species have been named after Star Trek’s Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.
Caponiids can be found in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, but these Star Trek spider species hail from Costa Rica and Mexico. The Roddenberryus mccoy and Roddenberryus spock species are from Mexico—Baja California Sur and Campeche and Quintana Roo, respectively—while Roddenberryus kirk hails from the Costa Rican provinces of Guanacaste and San José. Species in this family tend to stick to particular regions or Islands.
The discovery of this new genus and species of Star Trek spiders also gave Dr. Bonaldo and his fellow researchers more insight into the evolution of Nopinae, the sub family to which they belong.
Learning more about this subfamily helps arachnologists further understand the history of spiders in Central America and the Caribbean. Clever and interesting names for species also help draw attention not only to the diversity of species and the work of scientists, but also honors the people for whom they are named.
Caponiids can be found in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, but these Star Trek spider species hail from Costa Rica and Mexico.
In addition to giving Star Trek names to spiders, scientists have also named spiders after other notable figures like Greta Thunberg, the namesake of the genus Thunberga, discovered in 2020 in Madagascar. German scientist Peter Jäger of the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, who named the genus Thunberga, also named a spider genus after David Bowie, including the species Bowie heroes, Bowie majortom, and Bowie ziggystardust.
While we certainly think Star Trek spiders are indeed fascinating, we’re happy to observe them from a distance.
