Did you know that Madonna has a species of animal named after her?
According to Wikipedia, “[i]n 2006 a new water bear species (Latin: Tardigrada), Echiniscus madonnae… was named after Madonna. It is the first and the only (so far) species named in honour of the artist. The paper with the description of E. madonnae was published in the international journal of animal taxonomy Zootaxa in March 2006 (Vol. 1154, pages: 1-36). The authors’ justification for the name of the new species was: ‘We take great pleasure in dedicating this species to one of the most significant artists of our times, Madonna Louise Veronica Ritchie’. The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) number of the species is 711164.”
Here’s a picture of Echiniscus madonnae:
Click to enlarge
Read the bits about Echiniscus madonnae at Wikipedia by clicking here (Note: the linked section is copied in full above). You can also find out more than you ever wanted to know about Tardigrada – a species I didn’t even know existed 20 minutes ago – by clicking here.
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