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Discovered a new type of acorn insect , scientists have . Named it after Yoda , they did .
The crimson - royal dirt ball was found about 1.5 miles ( 2.5 kilometer ) beneath the control surface of the Atlantic Ocean , and has enceinte lips on either side of its header realm that reminded researchers of the floppy - eared Stars Wars character . Its full scientific name isYoda purpurata , or " purple Yoda . "
Yoda purpurata, or “purple Yoda.“The reddish-purple acorn worm was found about 1.5 miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, and has large lips on either side of its head region that reminded researchers of the floppy-eared Stars Wars character Yoda.
Researchers find the worm during the ECOMAR research program , which habituate a remotely operate submersible to research for new animate being along the seafloor at the Mid - Atlantic Ridge between Iceland and the Azores .
During the expedition , investigator from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland , also find two other new species ofacorn worm . The animals are described in a field published in the September issue of the journal Invertebrate Biology .
Shallow piss acorn worm live in burrows and are rarely seen , whereas deep sea metal money live on the seafloor , leaving spiral traces of poo that resemble harvest roach . These traces have been seen in fogey form , but until of late , nobody knew what produced them .
Yoda purpurata, or “purple Yoda.“The reddish-purple acorn worm was found about 1.5 miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, and has large lips on either side of its head region that reminded researchers of the floppy-eared Stars Wars character Yoda.
scientist are interested in these deep ocean coinage , because they are skinny to the evolutionary contact between vertebrates and invertebrates .
In other words , the force is hard with them .
ButYoda purpuratais scarce the only species to be named after a renowned part , fictional or not . late example include ahorse fly named for Beyoncé , an isopod ( this radical let in pill bug ) near Zanzibar ( an island of Tanzania in East Africa ) named after Freddie Mercury ( " arguably Zanzibar ’s most famed popular instrumentalist and Isaac Merrit Singer " ) and slime mold beetles named after George Bush , Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld .