Scientists in Papua New Guinea were recently able to tie in their love of science fantasy with their research, naming a newly-discovered species of beetle after Chewbacca. According to Discovery News, the Trigonopterus chewbacca weevil has been dubbed such because its dense scales remind researchers of the Wookiee’s dense fur, despite not resembling walking carpet at all. The T. chewbacca, while similar in coloring to Chewbacca, is a flightless weevil which means it can’t serve as much of a co-pilot. But perhaps the weevil’s bravery on the battlefield helped earned it the moniker. However, we think we can all agree that the researchers really dropped the ball in not naming the thing the Cheweevil.
Of course, this is hardly the first time that Star Wars fandom has found its way into the binomial nomenclature. There are two other species with “Chewbacca” in their names alone—the fuzzy Mexican moth dubbed Wockia chewbacca, and the Polemistus chewbacca wasp. There’s also the Yoda purpurata acorn worm, the Peckoltia greedoi catfish (Greedo’s namesake), the Agathidium vaderi slime beetle, and fittingly enough, a trilobite named Han solo.