A team of Danish and Swedish palaeontologists have named a new species of conodonts after legendary Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi. Researcher Mats E. Eriksson said he has a history of naming fossils after artists like King Diamond and Lemmy, and didn't plan on stopping with this one.
"I personally have quite an extensive track record of combining my science of palaeontology with heavy music (manifested through fossils named after Lemmy Kilmister, Alex Webster and King Diamond, but also through the travelling exhibition Rock Fossils, popular science books, and even 'paleo metal' records), so it came easy to me.
"Tony Iommi has been high on my list of people I wanted to honor this way. To my great pleasure, both my fellow co-authors loved the suggestion. So, now Tony Iommi is also immortalized in the scientific literature with the gorgeous species Drepanoistodus Iommi."
Iommi isn't the only one bestowed with such an honor this year. Researchers from the Natural History Museum Luxembourg and Florida Museum of Natural History named three new species of brittle stars after Gojira a few months back, because science can be extremely metal.
