I would never assume that the leggy creature above these words was a beetle, because it looks like an anteater / spider, but it apparently is. It’s name is the Trigonopterus chewbacca, yes, like that Chewbacca. Scientists Matthew H. Van Dam, Raymond Laufa and Alexander Riedel discovered it in Papua New Guinea, and its furriness reminded them of you-know-who, CNET reports.
Scientists named a new species of beetle after Chewbacca
Van Dam & Riedel
The scientists recently published their study, which describes four new species of beetle, including Chewy, in the journal ZooKeys. Of the Trigonopterus chewbacca, they wrote, “This species has dense scales on the head and the legs, which reminds the authors of Chewbacca’s dense fur.”
The overlap between entomologists and Star Wars fans seems to be pretty big, as this is not the first insect named after a Star Wars character.
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