Homage to 'eye-conic' villain: Butterfly species named after Sauron in Lord of the Rings

Researchers have named a new group of butterflies after Lord of the Rings villain Sauron. According to a report by the Natural History Museum in London on Sunday (May 7), while there are currently only two members of the genus Saurona, many more as-yet-undescribed species are thought to exist. Saurona triangula and Saurona aurigera are the first butterflies named after Sauron.

"The Eye of Sauron is a well-known symbol from the Lord of the Rings and was famously depicted on screen as a fiery orange eye peering over the landscape of Middle Earth. So when a group of butterflies with bright orange hindwings and dark eyespots needed redescribing, researchers wasted no time in honouring the work of J.R.R. Tolkien in the name of a new genus," the report said.

Saurona is one of the several new butterfly genera described by an international team of researchers in a new paper, and one of the two named by Dr Blanca Huertas, the senior curator of butterflies at the museum. Dr Huertas said giving an unusual name to these butterflies helped to draw attention to this underappreciated group.

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"It shows that, even among a group of very similar-looking species, you can find beauty among the dullness," she said and pointed out that naming a genus is not something that happens very often, and it is even rare to be able to name two at once.

"It was a great privilege to do so, and now means that we can start describing new species that we have uncovered as a result of this research, "Dr Huertas added.

But the butterflies are not only the ones to be named after Saurona. Sunday's report by the Natural History Museum said that a dung beetle, a frog and even a dinosaur have been named after the Lord of the Rings villain.

Though naming animals after a fictional character may seem spurious, it can be an important way of drawing attention to them.

Many species have been named after J.R.R. Tolkien and his work. "The wizard Gandalf, for instance, has a group of fossil mammals and species of crab, moth and beetle named after him, while Gollum gives his name to snails, wasps and a fish," the report said.

In 2021, Australian scientists named three beetles after Pokemon species Articuno, Moltres and Zapdos.

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