Lady Gaga inspires fern names in recognition of her ‘diversity’ message

Lady Gaga is being honoured by Duke University biologists in an unusual way: by having a new genus of fern named after her.

"We wanted to name this genus for Lady Gaga because of her fervent defense of equality and individual expression," said Kathleen Pryer, a biology professor at Duke University, according to Duke University's online newspaper Duke Today. "And as we started to consider it, the ferns themselves gave us more reasons why it was a good choice."

One reason was the similarity between the bisexual reproductive stage of the ferns, called a gametophyte, and Lady Gaga's dress from the 2010 Grammy Awards, right down to the same shade of green. Also, Lady Gaga's 'paws up' salute to her fans reminded Pryer of the 'clenched ball' that is formed by a fern's new leaves when they are extended. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Pryer's graduate student, Fay-Wei Li, found that the DNA base pairs that distinguish this particular group of ferns from others spelled out GAGA (Guanine-Adenine-Guanine-Adenine).

The nineteen species of fern in the new genus are found across Arizona, Texas, Mexico and Central and South America. All but two of the species previously belonged to the genus Cheilanthes, but DNA analysis of these species, in comparison to other, similar, ferns, showed that they are different enough to deserve their own genus. The two other species — Gaga germanotta and Gaga monstraparva — are new to science.

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Gaga germanotta is found in Costa Rica, and is named to honour Lady Gaga's family, as she was born Stefani Germanotta. Gaga monstraparva is a Mexican species, named in honour of the artist's fans — whom she calls her 'little monsters' — as monstraparva translates from Latin as 'monster-little'.

This isn't the first genus or species that has been named after a celebrity. There are plenty of others.

Elvis Presley has a spider named after him — Paradonea presleyi — apparently due to the velvety hairs on this particular species, reminiscent of the black velvet paintings in which he is immortalized. Some think it might be the cutest spider on the planet.

Apparently, there's something about trilobites that makes biologists think of British rockers, because Mick Jagger has one named after him — Aegrotocatellus jaggeri — and John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Star and George Harrison all have trilobites named after them, as well as a worm named after entire band — Bushiella beatlesi.

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Comedian Stephen Colbert has three different species named after him — a Venezuelan diving beetle, a trapdoor spider found along the California coast, and a stone fly from Chile.

Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi, another speices of trap door spider, is named after Canadian rock musician Neil Young.

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