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. Today's ridiculously named animal is...
Tritonia khaleesi
Tritonia khaleesi, Credit: Felipe de Vasconcelos Silva
Meet Tritonia khaleesi, the mother of drag....ermm...of nudibranchs! In case you are one of the handful of people who don't get the reference, this creature is named after "Khaleesi", a title used by the fictional character Daenerys Targaryen in the fantasy novel book series "A Song of Ice and Fire".
Tritonia khaleesi is a newly discovered species, that was described in a 2013 paper by Felipe de Vasconcelos Silva, Victor Manuel De Azevedoa and Helena Matthews-Cascona in The Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. The researchers decided to name the creature that way because of its silver-colored band on its back that reminded them of Emilia Clarke and her long pale bonde hair from the television adaptation of the book, Game of Thrones.
"The name, proposed as a noun in apposition, refers to the title ‘Khaleesi’, meaning ‘Queen’, of the main character Daenerys, from the book series A Song of Ice and Fire by the American author George R.R. Martin. The character is described as being short and having long white hair, features that resemble the white band on the notum of Tritonia khaleesi. The book series was recently adapted for the television series A Game of Thrones." [1]
T. khaleesi was described by specimens collected in the tropical South Atlantic Ocean, off northeast Brazil. It is a small nudibranch, with adults reaching a size of approximately 1.2 cm. It has a slender white body and is easily distinguished by other Tritonia species "by jaws with 10–14 rows of denticles on the inner lips, absence of stomach plates and the radular formula 32 × 2–5.1.1.1.2 –5 teeth. Tritonia khaleesi sp. nov. is the only Tritonia that possesses a unicuspid rachidian tooth as an adult." [1]
Map showing the location were the T. Khaleesi specimens were collected [1]
Since this is a new species with not much research behind it, we only know so little about it. There is really nothing else to say about it, other than boring morphological details. So I will close this post with some more photos and videos of the creature:
Credit: Felipe de Vasconcelos Silva
Nudibranch: In case this is your first time you hear about nudibranchs, they are an amazing group of sea slugs, best known for their extraordinary colours and alien-like appearance. Click here to learn more from wikipedia or here to view some of my personal favorites.
References & Further Reading
- Cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-marine-biological-association-of-the-united-kingdom
- Huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/30/khaleesi-sea-slug_n_4520829.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritonia_khaleesi
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritonia_(gastropod)
- Papelpop.com/2013/12/cientistas-brasileiros-batizam-nova-especie-de-lesma-marinha-de-khaleesi/
- Wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudibranch
- Steemit.com/animals/@trumpman/slimy-jewels-10-1-nudibranchs-that-will-blow-your-mind