Nightwish Becomes The Name Of The New Crab Species

Nightwish (Instagram @nightwish)

JAKARTA - A new crab species was discovered and named after the symphonic metal band Nightwish. Tanidromites nightwishorum, specifically named after their album released five years ago, Endless Forms Most Beautiful. This album is about the evolution of life.

"A new species of crab was discovered in eastern Austria and lived during the latter part of the Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago. When dinosaurs dominated the land, parts of Europe were covered by warm, shallow seas full of life," Nightwish said in an official statement.

"Nightwishorum tanidromites were found in fossilized coral reefs. The diversity and abundance of crabs exploded for the first time in their evolutionary history during the late Jurassic period in Central Europe," the statement continued.

Nightwish also thanked Dr Adiel A. Klompmaker and colleagues for the honor they received for naming the new crab species. Adiel is the curator of paleontology, Alabama's natural history museum.

"It's really fantastic," concluded Nightwish.

Four years ago, Nightwish keyboardist and lead songwriter Tuomas Holopainen spoke to Geeks Life Luxembourg about Nightwish's collaboration with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins on Endless Forms Most Beautiful.

Yes, I had one of those big 'fanboy' moments, which I very rarely have again, when I met him (Dawklins) for the first time a little over a year ago, when we were recording his part (the evolution of life) for an album in the studio. at Oxford, "said Holopainen.

"I have been a fan of his works, his books for many years. And (he is) also the main inspiration for the new album. (He is) one of my true heroes, and meeting him is quite something. And he is a real British man. has a mind the size of the entire cosmos, and what a great honor he actually agreed to come (to the studio). "

This is not the first time the species has been named after a metal or rock band or musician. Last year, four new spider species were discovered and named after members of the bands Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Def Leppard, and Angra.

The new species were discovered by Cristina Rheims, a researcher at the Buntantan Institute's biological research center in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It is known, this biologist turned out to be a fan of metal music.

The naming of spider species is governed by the international nomenclature code, but part of the names are left to the creativity of researchers. The new species discovered by Rheims belongs to the Sparianthinae spider family, which appears in the Neotropical region from southern Mexico to Argentina.

He named them Extraordinarius bruceickinsoni, Extraordinarius klausmeinei, Extraordinarius rickalleni and Extraordinarius andrematosi after Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, Klaus Meine from Scorpions, Rick Allen from Def Leppard, and Andre Matos from Angra.