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New crab species honors Harry Potter
A recently discovered crab species has been somewhat
tenuously named in honor of characters from the magical
world of Harry Potter.
The crab’s official name is Harryplax severus, with the
genus Harryplax named after the crab’s collector, the late
researcher and former marine Harry Conley, who died from a
gunshot in 2002, as well as the protagonist in J. K. Rowling’s
novels. Conley dug up many specimens in Guam’s coral reef
rubble almost 20 years ago.
The latter species part of its name is inspired by the
character Severus Snape, who “despite being a central
character in the series, keeps his background and agenda
mysterious until the very end,” the statement announcing the
naming said. The authors note this is “just like the present
new species, which has eluded discovery until now, nearly 20
years after it was first collected”.
Even though Conley found the specimen long ago, its
status as a new species and genus was only realized recently
by Dr Peter Ng and Dr Jose Cristopher E. Mendoza from the
National University of Singapore.
The crab is tiny, measuring just 7.9 by 5.6 millimeters (0.3
by 0.2 inches), and known only to herald from the island of
Guam. It’s found deep in coral rubble or under subtidal rocks,
and survives at dark depths with reduced eyes, ones that are
not used extensively. Instead, it has antennae to probe the
depths, and gets around on long thin legs.
In the statement, Dr Mendoza was said to be a
self-confessed “Potterhead”, hence the somewhat unusual
moniker. But it’s not the first time Potter has inspired the
naming of a new species – The magazine Popular Science
notes that a dinosaur species was named after Hogwarts in
2006 (Dracorex hogwartsia), a wasp in Thailand was named
Ampulex dementor in 2014, and a spider was named Eriovixia
gryffindori last year.
(Jonathan O’Callaghan. www.iflscience.com, 24.01.17. Adaptado.)
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to probe the depths”, o termo em destaque equivale, em
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