Star Warshas once again influenced pop culture, this time inspiring the name of a recently-discovered creature. The franchise George Lucas created has been ubiquitous since the first film hit theaters in 1977, making its way into everyday life in surprising ways. Washington D.C.’s National Cathedral, for example, had a Darth Vader grotesque installed in 1986.
Many flora and fauna have been named afterStar Wars’ best-known characters. There is a furry moth native to Mexico namedWockia chewbacca,for example, along with a species of begonia plant calledBegonia amidalae, after Padmé Amidala. TheTetramorium obiwanant even honors one of the best-known Jedi Masters.
Now, according toNational Geographic, the Krayt Dragon has been immortalized in the name of the 500-million-year-old,Kraytdraco spectatus, a recently-discovered type of priapulid worm, or “penis worm”. TheKraytdraco spectatuswas discovered during a September 2023 fossil hunt in the Grand Canyon in which ancient rocks were dissolved in acid, leaving fossils behind.
What The Kraytdraco Spectatus Means For Star Wars & Science
Krayt Dragons originated as a somewhat obscure piece ofStar Warslore. A large skeleton inStar Wars: Episode IV - A New Hopebelongs to one of the creatures, but fans didn’t see a live-action version of the beast untilThe Mandalorianoffered a look.
Now, thanks toKraytdraco spectatus, the fictional species will gain even more recognition, if primarily in scientific circles.
National Geographicreported that the dig that uncoveredKratydraco spectatusaimed to find fossils from the Cambrian period, which it described as“the dawn of complex animal life.”This new find seems to qualify, as the publication stressed that one biological quirk–a throat ringed on the inside with feathery teeth–was unlike any other known species of priapulid worm.
Thus,Kraytdraco spectatusis more than a fun new reference toStar Wars; it’s also a potential leap forward in our understanding of the development of life on planet Earth.
Our Take On The Naming Of Kraytdraco Spectatus
It’s always fun to see aStar Warsreference in the real world, but if I were naming this species, I wouldn’t have chosen to reference Krayt Dragons.Kraytdraco spectatusis a new kind of priapulid, or (as I wrote above) penis worm. Even the Latin name,National Geographicspecified, is derived from that of the Roman god of fertility.
TheKraytdraco spectatusitself was a burrower, and theNational Geographicpiece states that discoverer Giovanni Mussini remarked that it“more closely resembled the sandworms seen in Dune.”The bestStar Warscomparison, then, is the Exogorth, or Space Slug–not the Krayt Dragon.
One of theOriginal Trilogy’s scariest beasts, the Exogorth is closer in looks toKraytdraco spectatusthan any Krayt Dragon. In fact, if anything fromStar Warscould be a member of the penis worm family, it’s hard to argue for a better candidate than the slug that nearly devoured the Millennium Falcon inThe Empire Strikes Back.
Kraytdraco spectatusis no more, but there are still roughly 20 species of priapulid worm that exist today.
