Celebrities can be found throughout the animal kingdom if you know where to look. Sometimes when a new species is discovered, pop culture-loving scientists decide to name the creature after their favorite star. There are bugs named after Oscar winners, lemurs sharing names with comedians, and spiders with the same titles as starlets. Read on to see which celebrities have received the honor of having a species named after them.
Jeff Daniels
Scientists at UC Riverside in California dubbed a new species of nematode, “Tarantobelus jeffdanielsi” in January 2022. The name was inspired by Daniels’ character Dr. Ross Jennings from the 1990 film. Arachnophobia.
“His character in the movie is a spider killer, which is exactly what these nematodes are,” said parasitologist Adler Dillman, who led the team that discovered the new species.
