What Do Shakira, Brad Pitt and Taylor Swift Have In Common? Modern Taxonomy Reveals the Link
You’ve heard of a celebrity fragrance line. You’ve heard of a celebrity tequila brand. But a celebrity parasitic worm? That one’s new.
Welcome to the wildest corner of the fame-and-nature Venn diagram, where A-listers from Beyoncé to Brad Pitt have been immortalized not in wax at Madame Tussauds, but in the Latin names of newly discovered creatures.
Spiders, wasps, millipedes, beetles and at least one extremely fashionable horse fly have all received the celebrity treatment.
Scientists have been naming species after famous people for longer than you might expect.
Roughly 300 years ago, Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus set out on a bold quest: to identify and name every living organism on Earth. Linnaeus went on to describe more than 10,000 species of plants and animals prior to his death, per the University of Arizona.
Fast forward to 2026 and new species are being discovered at a historic rate.
According to a new University of Arizona-led study published in Science Advances, scientists are discovering more than 16,000 new species each year — quicker than ever before.
That’s 16,000 opportunities for researchers to get creative with naming rights.
Some of these names are heartfelt tributes. Some are nerdy inside jokes. Some are the result of a poster hanging in a lab at just the right moment.
Here’s the full celebrity animal species roster.
The Overachievers: Celebs With Multiple Species
David Attenborough dominates the species-naming game like no one else.
The English broadcaster, natural historian and author famous for his pioneering wildlife documentaries has dozens of animal species named after him. Dozens.
Consider him the Meryl Streep of the species world — everyone wants to put his name on their work.
Stephen Colbert holds a truly impressive hand with five species to his name.
The late-night host has been honored with a diving beetle (Agaporomorphus colberti), a parasitic wasp (Aleiodes colberti), a trapdoor spider (Aptostichus stephencolberti), a stonefly (Diamphipnoa colberti) and another beetle (Sonoma colberti).
Leonardo DiCaprio has four species bearing his name, split evenly between beetles and spiders: two beetles (Grouvellinus leonardodicaprioi and Metallactus dicaprioi) and two spiders (Misumessus dicaprioi and Spintharus leonardodicaprioi).
The late Steve Irwin, one of the most famous wildlife conservationists, holds a special distinction — he actually discovered one of the species named after him.
He and his father, Bob, were catching crocodiles on a river when they spotted an unusual-looking turtle. They took it to a turtle expert and it turned out to be a new species. That turtle was then named Elseya irwini in honor of Steve and Bob.
But the detail that truly captures Irwin’s legacy? He also has a snail (Crikey steveirwini) named after him. Yes, Crikey is part of the official scientific name.
Dr. John Stanisic, who discovered the snail, described it as “a colourful snail, with swirling bands of creamy yellow, orange-brown and chocolate giving the shell an overall khaki appearance.” He named it after Irwin because he was always wearing a khaki uniform.
Animal Species Named After Music Icons
Taylor Swift has a North American millipede named after her: Nannaria swiftae. Published in Zookeys, the twisted-claw millipede was found in the Appalachian Mountains along with 16 other new species of millipedes.
The man behind the name? Derek Henen, a self-described Swiftie.
“Her music helped me get through the highs and lows of graduate school, so naming a new millipede species after her is my way of saying thanks,” he said in a news release.
A horse fly named Plinthina beyonceae was published in the Australian Journal of Entomology. The horse fly was initially discovered in 1981, but not described or named until 2011.
It has a distinctive shiny bum, due to a dense patch of golden hairs on its abdomen. Its golden backside reminded scientists of the song “Bootylicious” by Destiny’s Child (hence the Beyonce reference in the name).
A 30-year wait to be officially described and then getting named after Queen Bey for your golden rear end? That’s a glow-up story for the ages.
The species Aleiodes shakirae is a parasitic wasp published in Zookeys.
The Shakira wasp is a parasite of caterpillars, feeding and developing inside them and causing them to bend and twist their abdomens in a distinctive way, which reminded lead author Scott Shaw and colleague Eduardo Shimbori of belly dancing, per UW.
A treehopper species called Kaikaia gaga was published in Zootaxa, and the reasoning is perfect.
“If there is going to be a Lady Gaga bug, it’s going to be a treehopper, because they’ve got these crazy horns, they have this wacky fashion sense about them,” lead author Brendan Morris said in a news release. “They’re unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.”
Sir Elton John got a tiny, shrimp-like crustacean known as an amphipod: Leucothoe eltoni, published in Zookeys.
“I named the species in honour of Sir Elton John because I have listened to his music in my lab during my entire scientific career,” Dr. James Thomas said, per Science Daily.
“So, when this unusual crustacean with a greatly enlarged appendage appeared under my microscope after a day of collecting, an image of the shoes Elton John wore as the Pinball Wizard came to mind,” he added.
Litarachna lopezae is a species of aquatic mite published in Zookeys.
“The reason behind the unusual choice of name for the new species is that J.Lo’s songs and videos kept the team in a continuous good mood when writing the manuscript and watching World Cup Soccer 2014,” lead author Vladimir Pešić said of Jennifer Lopez, per Entomology Today.
In a move of extraordinary completeness, all four members of Queen each got their own damselfly species, published in Zootaxa:
- Heteragrion freddiemercuryi (Freddie Mercury)
- Heteragrion brianmayi (Brian May)
- Heteragrion rogertaylori (Roger Taylor)
- Heteragrion johndeaconi (John Deacon)
“I name this species after Freddie Mercury, artistic name of Farrokh Bulsara (1946–1991), superb and gifted musician and songwriter whose wonderful voice and talent still entertain millions of people around the world,” wrote lead author F. A. A. Lencioni in 2013.
Three other species were named after the other members of Queen to pay tribute to the 40th anniversary of the band’s founding, which occurred in 1971.
The Animal Kingdom’s Hollywood A-Listers
A species of nematodes (parasitic worms) called Tarantobelus jeffdanielsi was published in the Journal of Parasitology.
This parasitic worm is only the second known species of nematodes to infect and kill tarantulas. It was named in honor of Jeff Daniels’ character in the film Arachnophobia, who saves a town from a deadly infestation of spiders.
Daniels delivered what might be the single greatest celebrity response to a species naming: “When I first heard a new species of nematode had been named after me, I thought, ‘Why? Is there a resemblance?’” Daniels told UCR.
“Honestly, I was honored by their homage to me and Arachnophobia. Made me smile. And of course, in Hollywood, you haven’t really made it until you’ve been recognized by those in the field of parasitology,” he added.
Harrison Ford has three species named after him: a Californian spider (Calponia harrisonfordi), first described in 1993 by Norman I. Platnick, who named the type species after the film actor to thank him for narrating a documentary for the Natural History Museum in London.
Ford also has an ant (Pheidole harrisonfordi) and a Peruvian snake (Tachymenoides harrisonfordi).
Ford’s response?
“These scientists keep naming critters after me, but it’s always the ones that terrify children,” Ford told Conservation International, per the BBC. “I don’t understand. I spend my free time cross-stitching. I sing lullabies to my basil plants, so they won’t fear the night.”
Harrison Ford singing lullabies to his basil plants is now the only thing we will think about for the rest of the week.
The Brangelina of Bugs
Both Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have species named after them.
Jolie’s species is a trapdoor spider, Aptostichus angelinajolieae, published in Ecology and Evolution.
Jason Bond, a researcher at the Auburn University Museum of Natural History and Department of Biological Sciences, discovered 33 new trapdoor spider species from the American Southwest. One of those spiders was named after Angelina Jolie, but she wasn’t the only one honored.
Bond also named spiders after President Barack Obama, Stephen Colbert and Bono (whose spider was found in Joshua Tree National Park, a reference to U2’s “The Joshua Tree” album from 1987).
Meanwhile, Conobregma bradpitti is a parasitic wasp from Thailand, published in Zookeys. The origin story here is peak chaos.
A poster of Brad Pitt was hanging in the laboratory where Dr. Bunktika A. Butcher of Chulalongkorn University in Thailand spent hours studying the wasp. She decided to name the wasp in his honor, per the Miami Herald.
Imagine the power of your face inspiring someone to name a parasitic wasp after you simply because they stared at your poster long enough.
When the Species Name Writes Itself
Sometimes the universe just hands you a gift.
Idris elba is a species of parasitic wasp published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research. Species in the Idris genus are known to lay their eggs inside spider eggs, but this one chose to infiltrate an invasive species of stink bug named Bagrada hilaris.
Elijah Talamas, who once joked with a colleague that it would be funny to see a species named after Idris Elba given the obvious connection, was given that opportunity when he observed a new species of Idris emerge from a stink bug he was studying. The name wrote itself.
Because the universe has a sense of humor, both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield have spider species named after them — and both were published in the same journal, Arthropoda Selecta.
Filistata maguirei was discovered in the Geno Biosphere Reserve in Iran. The spider is active at night, just like Maguire’s character Spiderman, and is primarily found living among rocks, logs and other micro-habitats. They are venomous, but don’t pose any risk to humans.
Pritha garfieldi was found in the Alborz Mountains of northern Iran. They are both crevice weavers, so they like to build their homes in small crevices. Unlike the movie, neither of these two spiders are known to give humans superpowers.
Still no word on a Tom Holland spider. Scientists, the ball is in your court.
A Conservation Warning and a 500-Million-Year-Old Tribute
Agra katewinsletae is a Costa Rican species of ground beetle published in Zootaxa.
Entomologist Terry Erwin discovered 29 new species of ground beetle in Costa Rica and named one of them after Kate Winslet in honor of her iconic role as Rose in Titanic.
Erwin’s note in the paper hits differently: “Her character did not go down with the ship, but we will not be able to say the same for this elegant canopy species, if all the rain forest is converted to pastures.”
He also named another one of the beetles after Liv Tyler.
Kootenichela deppi is a Cambrian arthropod described from a fossil and published in the Journal of Paleontology.
This arthropod lived more than 500 million years ago. It was no more than five centimeters long and sported a pair of “great appendages”, each with three spiny finger-like projections.
It was named after Johnny Depp “for his portrayal of Edward Scissorhands in the 1990 film of the same name,” per the paper.
The Ninja Shark and the Justice Collar
Etmopterus benchleyi is a species of lanternshark published in Zenodo.
Also known as the Ninja Lanternshark due to its dark black appearance, its scientific name was chosen as a nod to Peter Benchley, the author of the 1974 novel “Jaws.” Its upper jaw teeth are small, straight, and pointed, whereas the lower jaw teeth are larger.
An author who wrote one of the most famous shark stories in history getting his own species of shark feels like the most appropriate naming on this entire list.
Ilomantis ginsburgae is a leaf-dwelling praying mantis published in Insect Systematics & Evolution.
Researchers Sydney Brannoch and Gavin Svenson discovered a species of leaf-dwelling praying mantis and named it after Ruth Bader Ginsburg because of its neck plate that resembles the jabot (collar) worn by justices.
It was also the first praying mantis classified based on female genitalia and named in honor of Ginsburg for her relentless fight for gender equality.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
