Ridiculous Scientific Names #6 - Pink Floyd Shrimp And Animals Named After Harrison Ford

Welcome to another post of my Ridiculous Scientific Names series, where I introduce you to some of the weirdest and wackiest scientific names given to animals, along with the origins of those names. 

In today's post I want to present you three ridiculously named animals! The first is a shrimp named after the famous English rock band "Pink Floyd" that many of us old timers grew up with and the other two (an ant and a spider) are named after American actor and film producer Harrison Ford.

Let's Begin

1# Synalpheus pinkfloydi

The Pink Floyd pistol shrimp

Scientifically described as Synalpheus pinkfloydi and commonly known as the Pink Floyd pistol shrimp, this is a newly found species of snapping shrimp that was first collected near the Las Perlas Archipelago, in Panama Bay. Before we see the Pink Floyd shrimp in more detail, I want to say a few words about snapping shrimps and how their special pokemon-like attack works for those of you who haven't heard before about them

Snapping shrimps are members of the family Alpheidae and have asymmetrical claws, a small and a big one! The larger one is usually capable of producing a really, really loud sound when it snaps. This sound is so loud that snapping shrimps are actually one of the loudest animals in the sea, even competing equally with sounds produced by much larger animals like the sperm whale! 

When snapping shrimps shut this specialized claw, it creates a "cavitation bubble that generates acoustic pressures of up to 80 kPa at a distance of 4 cm from the claw. As it extends out from the claw, the bubble reaches speeds of 100 km/h (62 mph) and releases a sound reaching 218 decibels." The resulting pressure can easily kill or stun small nearby fish, crustaceans and other small marine animals! I know... it sounds really unbelievable so here's a NatGeo video for the unbelievers:

Now, back to the Pink Floyd pistol shrimp! Why was it named this way? Well, as you might have expected, the scientists who described the species in 2017 were simply huge fans of Pink Floyd:

"I have been listening to Floyd since The Wall was released in 1979, when I was 14 years old. I've seen them play live several times since, including the Hyde Park reunion gig for Live8 in 2005. The description of this new species of pistol shrimp was the perfect opportunity to finally give a nod to my favourite band." said  Sammy De Grave, one of the authors of the study.

"I have been listening to Floyd since The Wall was released in 1979, when I was 14 years old. I've seen them play live several times since, including the Hyde Park reunion gig for Live8 in 2005. The description of this new species of pistol shrimp was the perfect opportunity to finally give a nod to my favourite band. I often play Pink Floyd as background music while I'm working, but now the band and my work have been happily combined in the scientific literature." said Arthur Anker, leading author of the study

" Named after the well-known British rock band Pink Floyd, inspired by the bright pink-red claw of the new species. Suggested vernacular name: Pink Floyd pistol shrimp ", an extract from the paper describing the shrimp

Before I move to the next animal here's a funny thing the researchers wrote in their paper:

 Presently known only from the type locality on the Pacific side of Panama; likely more widespread in the tropical eastern Pacific, but unlikely to occur on the Dark Side of the Moon due to lack of suitable habitat 

Nice touch ;)

2# Animals Named After Harrison Ford

Pheidole harrisonfordi (credit)

I actually came across this ant while researching my "Weirdest Ants Of The World" mini-series. Ok, enough with the self-advertisting.

Pheidole harrisonfordi is a species of ant in the genus Pheidole. The species was first described in 2003 and was named after the actor Harrison Ford in honor of his work in conservation. The species occurs from  Panama to southern Mexico.  in wet forest habitats from sea level to 1800 m elevation. 

There's not anything much interesting to say about this ant but you can click here if you want to learn more about it.

This isn't actually the only animal named after Harrison Ford. There's also a spider named after him (Calponia harrisonfordi)  and apparently there was a scientist who also wanted to name a butterfly after him but he declined:

 "I asked them to name it after my daughter instead. So here I am — only three species (the spider, the ant and himself)." [source] 

Here's a photo of Harrison Ford's spider in case you wonder how it looks like:

Calponia harrisonfordi (credit)

The spider was discovered by arachnologist Norman I. Platnick who scientifically described it in 1993.  The specific name was chosen "in honor of screen actor Harrison Ford, in recognition of his efforts on behalf of the American Museum. "

This is the only species of the genus Calponia and is found in California. Other than how it looks, there is actually very little we know about it and again I think there's isn't much else really interesting to say about it.

So that's pretty much with the ridicilously named animals for today! Stay tuned for the next episode :D

More Ridiculously Named Animals

Didn't have enough? Ok! Here are some more animals with stupid names: 

• Darth Vader's and Arnold Schwarzenegger's Beetles
• Animals Named After Donald Trump
• The Bernie Sanders Spider 
• Tritonia khaleesi, Queen of the Nudibranches and the Sea Slugs 
• A beetle called Hitler