Another Auburn biologist has named a crazy critter after a famous musician. Because that’s what Auburn biologists do — find things spiders and catfish and just give them nifty, news-worthy names.
In 2013, it was the Bono spider. A year before that, it was Aubie… because the only place in the world the thing can be found is Auburn’s Grove Hill neighborhood (because it has high spidery standards like that). And of course we all remember 2015’s Greedo the catfish.
Now it’s Aphonopelma johnnycashi, the tarantula in black that Auburn doctoral biology student (or however you say it) and huge Johnny Cash fan Chris Hamilton discovered, yes, near Folsom Prison.
“It’s found along the foothills of the western Sierra Nevada mountains, and one of the places that’s there is Folsom Prison,” Hamilton told NME. “It’s a perfect name. It fits the spider – it’s found around Folsom and the males are predominantly all black, so it fits his image. I have a Johnny Cash tattoo so I was very happy that it worked out that way.”
You can read more about the eight-legger here
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