See 7 more fossils inspired by famous people and characters

You already had the opportunity to meet here at Mega Curioso seven fossils whose names were inspired by rock stars. Now you will know about some more dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals that were baptized with titles inspired by famous people and characters from the entertainment world.

Archaeologists and scientists often do this kind of action, honoring a celebrity (living or dead) or a character to name the fossils. In this way, archaeological finds get more attention from the press and the general public, who are watching them with more interest. Check out what they are below:

1 - Gagadon minimonstrum (Lady Gaga)

Eccentric pop singer Lady Gaga has a custom of calling her fans Little Monsters, and this nickname "endearment" turned out to be an inspiration to the fossil world. Gaga loves to make her public appearances in the weirdest way possible, so that's why she gets so much attention from the media and even scientists.

And it seems that many naturalists are on the artist's fanatic list, as she has already been honored with an entire genre of fern ( Gaga ) and a species of wasp ( Aleoides gaga ).

In addition to these honors, the interpreter of hits such as Poker Face, Paparazzi, Bad Romance, Born This Way, Applause and many others has now been related to a small mammal that lived more than 50 million years ago. Named after Gagadon minimonstrum, the fossil has a unique dental structure, allowing it to feed better on the difficult grasses of the North American Eocene.

2 - Livyatan melvillei (Herman Melville - author of Moby Dick)

The author of a famous work of world literature was honored in naming a fossil of a prehistoric whale. In November 2008, fossil remains of what was christened Livyatan melvillei were discovered in the desert sediments of the Pisco-Ica desert in southern Peru.

The fossilized remains included a partially preserved skull with teeth and jaw, dating from 12 to 13 million years. The researchers initially named the biblical monster Leviathan ( Leviathan ) for this prehistoric whale, and the melvillei was named after Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick, as the researchers who were excavating the fossil were fans. from the book.

However, a slight problem arose, as the scientific name of Leviathan was a namesake of the Leviathan described by Albert Koch in 1841, being of a genus of mastodon. Therefore, the first name needed to be replaced in 2010 by Livyatan, following the original Hebrew spelling.

3 - Effigia okeeffeae (Georgia O'Keeffe)

Georgia O'Keeffe was a very famous painter from the United States, who exhibited her works in the 1920s, but gained even more prominence in her artistic career when she was honored by a fossil removed by the American paleontologist Edwin Colbert in the quarry of Ghost Ranch, New Mexico.

According to scientific records, the nearly two-foot fossil was collected by Edwin Colbert, but it was inside large blocks of rock that were excavated between 1947 and 1948. However, Colbert did not think any large vertebrates were present in the quarry and, so it didn't even open most of the blocks that were returned to the American Museum of Natural History.

It was a long time before the fossil was rediscovered at the museum in 2006 by undergraduate student Sterling Nesbitt. Nesbitt was opening some blocks in order to find new specimens of Coelophysis . Finding the remains of what was called Effigia okeeffeae, he instantly recognized that it was not a dinosaur and began tracking down the rest of the blocks in that quarry area.

Then Nesbitt and Mark Norell, the museum's curator, named the fossil (which was from a 200 million-year-old prehistoric reptile) named after the painter, who lived for many years at Ghost Ranch.

4 - Obamadon gracilis (Barack Obama)

What does the current president of the United States have to do with a prehistoric lizard fossil? The name! Obamadon gracilis was a small lizard from the late Upper Cretaceous Period of North America.

It was named after paleontologist Nicholas Longrich after Barack Obama was elected in his first term as a tribute to this achievement. The fossilized remains of the animal were found in the Hell Creek formations in Montana and Lance in Wyoming.

Researchers describe him as being distinguished by his perfect and fine dental arch, by being tall and thin, just like the US president. But Obamadon is not the first body to be related to Obama. Other researchers have already named Etheostoma obama, a fish, and a lichen named Caloplaca obamae .

5 - Tianchisaurus (cast of Jurassic Park)

Tianchisaurus nedegoapeferima is a remarkable discovery for two reasons: First, this is the oldest identified ankylosaurus in the fossil record, which dates from the Middle Jurassic period.

Second, and perhaps most interestingly, the famous paleontologist Dong Zhiming initially named this Jurassosaurus dinosaur because he was surprised to find a Middle Jurassic ankylosaurus and because his expedition had been partially funded by Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg.

For this second reason, this dinosaur is named nedegoapeferima, a confusing sequence of syllables that honors the original cast of Jurassic Park: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello

6 - Maotherium asiaticus (Mao Zhedong)

Maotherium is an extinct symmetrodon mammal genus that was discovered in rocks dating from the Cretaceous Period in Liaoning Province, China, in 2003. Its scientific name honors Chinese politician Mao Zhedong.

The fossil belongs to an extinct group of mammals from the Mesozoic era. The species described in 2009, the Maotherium asiaticus, sheds some light on the evolution of the middle ear of mammals. In modern mammals, Meckel's cartilage appears during development but disappears before adulthood.

In Maotherium asiaticus, the cartilage not only remained, but was also turned into bone. This evolving event may be an example of heterochrony, a change in development time.

7 - Sauroniops (Sauron of The Lord of the Rings)

In the early 21st century, a collector donated a dinosaur skull bone to Italy's Museo di Paleontologico Montevarchi. The institution acquired the specimen from a Moroccan fossil dealer who had purchased the piece from local fossil hunters near Taouz.

For this reason, its exact origin is uncertain. But further research has shown that he introduced a new species that was described in 2012 by Andrea Cau, Marco Dalla Vecchia and Matteo Fabbri.

That same year, the fossil was named by the researchers as Sauroniops pachytholus . The name has the meaning attached to the "Eye of Sauron", a demonic entity from JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.