Scientists have named a prehistoric crocodile after the late Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister.
"Lemmysuchus" lived during the Middle Jurassic Period roughly 164 million years ago, according to the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. The animal was part of the teleosaurs family, an extinct group related to crocodiles. Turns out the proto-croc was discovered nearly 100 years ago, and was wrongly classified as a sea crocodile until just recently.
London’s Natural History Museum, University of Edinburge palaeontologist Michela Johnson notes "it would have been one of the biggest coastal predators of its time” having a total length of 5.8 meters. (about 19 feet), with its skull being a meter long in length (3.2 feet).
As for why naming the ancient proto-croc after Lemmy, curator Lorna Steel offered the perfect explanation:
“Although Lemmy passed away at the end of 2015, we’d like to think that he would have raised a glass to Lemmysuchus, one of the nastiest sea creatures to have ever inhabited the Earth.’
We can't say we disagree.
Lemmy now joins an illustrious group of musicians with animals named after them. Ozzy has a bat frog named after him, Dave Mustaine has a tarantula named after him and Henry Rollins has a breed of fireants named after him.
[via Metal Insider]
