TAKING NAMES...

MARION MCMULLEN looks at celebrities who are quite at home in the natural world

Hitting a ball may not be on its list of skills, but a rare snail species discovered in Montenegro has just been named after Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic, left. Travunijana djokovici was found in a spring near the country’s capital Podgorica. Scientists said they named the new freshwater snail species after Djokovic “to acknowledge his inspiring enthusiasm and energy”.

2

The Clash’s Joe Strummer has a deep sea snail named after him called Alvinconcha strummeri.

They live in an extreme environment, have purple blood and, according to researchers, look like punk rockers.

3

A ferocious Jurassic crocodile was named Lemmysuchus after hellraising Motorhead frontman Lemmy in 2017. The 19ft long croc terrorised coastal waters around the UK more than 145 million years ago and had a skull measuring just over metre. It also had blunt teeth, perfect for crushing bones and turtle shells.

4

Lady Gaga has a species of wasp named after her Aleoides gaga - as well as a small hoofed mammal which lived more than a million years ago. It has been dubbed Gagadon minimonstrum, which means Lady Gagatoothed mini-monster. 5 When people think of Luther and The Wire star Idris Elba the first thing that springs to mind is not likely to be a wasp, but scientists named an entire wasp species Idris after the British actor and the genus is said to contain more than 300 species. The insect was detected in Mexico and is said to parasitise the eggs of an invasive

stink bug.

6

An Amazon bat frog was named Dendropsophus ozzyi after Ozzy Osbourne. The tiny tree frog species is brown and orange and known for its distinctive bat-like call. The Black Sabbath frontman infamously bit the head off a bat on stage in 1981, but later said he had believed it was a rubber model.

7

Environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg inspired scientists at the Natural History Museum in London to name a tiny new species of beetle Nelloptodes gretae.

8

Famous spider characters from the Harry Potter world, Charlotte’s Web and other fantasy novels and literary classics have been immortalised in science after researchers named seven new spider species after them. The new species were discovered in iron caves across northern Brazil and now have names like Ochyrocera aragogue, inspired by giant spider Aragog from Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets.

9

An ancient damselfly that lived 100 million years ago is among a long list of species named after veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough. Chinese scientists dubbed the speciman Mesostica david at ten boroug hi. Around a dozen species, both living and dead, have been named after the nature expert.

10

Monty Python star John Cleese has a lemur named after him. The small woolly Avahi cleesei lives on leaves in a remote part of Madagascar. Urs Thalmann, of the University of Zurich, in Switzerland, who discovered the species, joked: “Woolly lemurs can’t really walk, but they do enjoy silly jumps.”