Taylor Swift fan scientist names the singer after the new species of invertebrate animal

Taylor Swift has numerous Grammys and American Music Awards, but this new honor will be a first for the global pop star.

A newly discovered species of millipede is named Swift, according to a study published in the journal ZooKeys. It’s called Nannaria swiftae, or ‘Swift twisted-clawed millipede’.

The study’s lead author, Derek Hennen, is a self-proclaimed Swiftie and wanted to honor the singer. He was a doctoral candidate at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg at the time of the research.

“Her music has helped me through difficult times, and it’s a kind of thanks I can give for the joy her music has brought me,” said Hennen.

Hennen found the millipede at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Spencer, Tennessee, the same state Swift moved to as a teenager to pursue her singing career.

If Swift learns the name, Hennen hopes she will be happy and use it as an opportunity to learn more about the millipede.

“For a scientist, naming a species after someone is an honor, so I hope she sees it in a positive light,” he said.

It’s a “pretty” millipede with a brown color and reddish-orange spots on the sides, Hennen said.

Paul Marek, associate professor in the department of entomology at Virginia Tech, and a formal Jackson Means doctoral candidate at Virginia Tech, traveled with Hennen through 17 states from 2015 to 2019 and found 17 new species of millipedes.

“It’s funny because when I started, I was like, ‘Wow! A new species!’ but after a couple of years, it’s like, ‘We’ve got another new species of millipedes, throw it in the pile,'” Hennen said.

Millipedes are one of the lesser-known creatures because they aren’t as flashy as butterflies or dragonflies, which is why so many new species are being discovered, he said.

These insects prefer wild habitats and are important in the nutrient cycling process, Hennen said. Millipedes act as “leaf recyclers,” eating dead plants and pooping, fertilizing the soil, she explained.

Another special millipede

Swift isn’t the only person to have Hennen name a millipede discovery after him. Hennen named another new species Nannaria marianae, also known as the Maple Flats twisted-clawed millipede, after his wife Marian.

On their walks together, his wife waited patiently while Hennen looked for millipedes, which he did on almost every walk, he said.

“She was by my side the whole time while I was working on my PhD and she gave me so much love and support, and this is my way of showing her my love and support for her,” said Hennen.

Other celebrities have had an animal or plant named after them:

• Drag queen RuPaul had a rainbow-colored fly, Opaluma rupaul;
• A bee fly found in Australia was named Paramonovius nightking, after the Night King in Game of Thrones;
• Leonardo DiCaprio had a tree, Uvariopsis dicaprio, named after him for his conservation efforts;
• Australian scientists have named several new species after Marvel characters, including Thor. The scientific name of the fly species is Daptolestes bronteflavus, with the second word translating to “blond thunder”;
• Many other animals are named after celebrities like Dolly Parton and Lady Gaga – Parton had a lichen named after her called Japewiella dollypartoniana and Gaga had an entire plant genus called monstraparva, also known as her DNA sequence, GAGA.