The science world has paid homage to Johnny Depp by giving his name to an extinct creepy-crawly with “scissor hand-like” claws reminiscent of one of the Hollywood actor’s best-known roles.
Kooteninchela deppi, a 505-million-year-old distant ancestor of lobsters and scorpions, has been named for Depp’s famous portrayal of a gentle freak named Edward Scissorhands in the 1990 eponymous film, according to a study in the Journal of Palaeontology.
“When I first saw the pair of isolated claws in the fossil records of this species, I could not help but think of Edward Scissorhands,” researcher David Legg of Imperial College London said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
The “chela” in the genus name Kooteninchela given to the recently-discovered fossilized critter is another reference to the film character, as it means “claws” or “scissors” in Latin.
The animal, about four centimeters long with millipede-like legs, lived in shallow seas off the coast of British Columbia in Canada during the Cambrian period. It was probably a hunter or scavenger, using its claws with their elongated spines to capture prey or probe the sea floor for creatures in hiding.
(AFP)
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
科學界最近向好萊塢影星強尼戴普致敬，用他的名字來替一種長有類似「剪刀手」螯足的已絕種生物命名，因為這種螯足令人想起戴普所扮演過最知名的角色之一。
根據《古生物學期刊》上的一份研究指出，距今五億五百萬年的生物Kooteninchela deppi是龍蝦和蠍子的遠祖，因為令人想起戴普在一九九○年同名電影中所扮演的知名角色、性格溫和的怪胎剪刀手愛德華，而以戴普來命名。
「當我第一次看到這種生物化石紀錄裡的那對獨立螯足時，實在禁不住想起剪刀手愛德華。」倫敦大學帝國學院研究人員雷格在聲明中指出。
這個新近才被發現的化石生物所被給予的屬名Kooteninchela中，chela指的也是同一電影角色，因為這個字在拉丁文中意為「鉗子」或「剪刀」。
這種生物長約四公分，長有類似馬陸的腳，在寒武紀時代生活於加拿大英屬哥倫比亞海岸外的淺海地區。它很可能是獵食者或食腐動物，會伸長脊椎並使用螯足來捕捉獵物，或搜尋躲藏在海床裡的動物。
（法新社／翻譯：俞智敏）
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