“Starry atmosphere spider”, “rainbow spider”… A Chinese scientist has named 16 new specimens of spiders inspired by the songs of the very popular Taiwanese musician Jay Chou, achieving great success on social networks .
Mi Xiaoqi, a professor at Tongren University in southwest China’s Guizhou province, revealed his list of spiders in an article published in December in the academic journal “Zoological Research: Diversity and Conservation.” His post has since gone viral, with its dedicated hashtag on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo being viewed more than 26 million times since Wednesday.
One of the 3.5 millimeter arachnids was named a “starry ambience spider” in reference to a love song from Chou’s first album (“Jay” released in 2000). Others are called “rainbow spider”, “dragon fist spider” and “forgiveness spider”.
Taiwanese musician Chou, 45, known for his dramatic love ballads with pop tones, is one of the most popular artists on the planet in Mandarin, with more than 30 million records sold. His songs will now be immortalized by the names of eight-legged creatures, recently discovered by Professor Mi and two of his colleagues in the Chinese province of Yunnan.
The 2.36-millimeter yellow-brown, web-spinning “secret code” spider takes its name from a 2002 love song by Chou from his album “The Eight Dimensions.” “Never leave, you are the missing piece in my universe,” say the lyrics of the song, which makes no reference to the world of spiders. “Pardon Spider”, a hairy brown and white critter, is inspired by “Common Orange Jasmine”, the best-selling music album in China during the 21st century, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Mi Xiaoqi has been an unconditional fan of Chou since his student days, explains Chinese media Xinhua. “Naming spiders after Jay Chou songs brings scientific research closer to the general public. I hope more people will be interested in scientific research and support environmental protection,” he told Xinhua. An asteroid had already been named Chou in 2011 by Taiwanese astronomers.