Scientists Name Newly Discovered Crab Species After Nightwish

Scientists have named a new crab species after symphonic metal group Nightwish.

A recently published scientific paper on Mesozoic reef crabs was submitted in November of last year and accepted in June. Amid the dozen-plus figures outlined in the paper is “Tanidromites nightwishorum,” a coral reef crab discovered in the Ernstbrunn quarries in Austria.

“Named in honor of the members of the symphonic metal band Nightwish (Troy Donockley, Kai Haito, Marco Hietala, Tuomas Holopainen, Floor Jansen, and Emppu Vuorinen), in particular for their 2015 album Endless Forms Most Beautiful about the evolution of life,” states the etymology section of the paper.

For their Endless Forms Most Beautiful album, Nightwish teamed up with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who contributed narrative dialogue to the opening and closing tracks of the record.

Nightwish shared the news on Facebook (accompanied by photos), stating, “The new species of crab was found in eastern Austria and lived during the late part of the Jurassic period, around 150 million years ago. While dinosaurs dominated the land, parts of Europe were covered by a warm, shallow sea full of life.”

“Tanidromites nightwishorum was discovered in a fossil coral reef,” the band continued, noting, “Crab diversity and abundance exploded for the very first time in their evolutionary history during the Late Jurassic in central Europe.”

Expressing their gratitude for being immortalized within crab taxonomy, Nightwish said, in closing, “Thanks to Dr. Adiel A. Klompmaker and his colleagues for this truly fantastic honour (Adiel is curator of palaeontology, Alabama museum of natural history).”

See the post below and to see more species named after rock and metal artists, head to the bottom of the page.

Earlier this year, Nightwish released Human. :II: Nature., their first new album since Endless Forms Most Beautiful.