Harry Potter CRAB: New crustacean named after Professor Severus Snape
EVERYONE knows Severus Snape could be crabby in the Harry Potter tales - but now he has a new type of crab named in his honour.
This fantastic magical beast delights in the scientific name of Harryplax severus after researchers realised it was a species new to science.
Although the tiny crab – it measures just 0.3 by 0.2 inches – was found on a remote tropical island almost two decades ago, only recently have scientists classified it as coming from a wholly new genus.
A new research paper reveals not only the ecological details of the creature, which has adapted to living at deep depths by evolving small eyes, well-developed antennae and long, slender legs, but how its unusual Latin name came about.
A self-confessed “Potterhead” in the research team was influential in coining the taxonomic details in tribute to both the intrepid collector who first found the crab but also how JK Rowling’s most misunderstood character comes into the story.
The dark, saturnine Severus Snape was played by the late Alan Rickman in the Harry Potter films, arguably one of the greatest all-time Hollywood baddies.
His Snape character was also adept at keeping important secrets, a fact the scientists say was important when they came to naming the crab.
Alan Rickman as Severus Snape in Harry Potter
Harryplax severus was originally found on the island of Guam in the western Pacific by Harry Conley, a former US marine turned researcher, among rocks and coral rubble in 1998.
It is an allusion to a notorious and misunderstood character in the Harry Potter novels
Conley’s vast collection was given to the Florida Museuem of Natural History before his death and, recently, biologists Peter Ng and Christopher Mendoza were able to confirm that one of the specimens belonged to both a new genus and species.
Writing in the scientific journal ZooKeys, the scientists from the National University of Singapore, explained how they arrived at the new taxonomic name.
They wrote: “The new genus is named primarily in honor of the intrepid field collector, the late Harry T Conley, who collected many interesting crustaceans in the rubble beds of Guam, including the species presently being described.
“The name is also an allusion to a famous namesake, Harry Potter, the magical hero of the popular book series by JK Rowling, and Mr Conley’s uncanny ability to collect rare and interesting creatures as if by magic.
“The name is an arbitrary combination of 'Harry' and the suffix '-plax'.
“The specific epithet, severus (Latin for harsh, rough, rigorous), alludes to the rigorous and laborious process by which this crab was collected.
“It is also an allusion to a notorious and misunderstood character in the Harry Potter novels, Professor Severus Snape, for his ability to keep one of the most important secrets in the story, just like the present new species which has eluded discovery until now, nearly 20 years after it was first collected.”