Scientists name new species of millipede after Taylor Swift

Writer-director Taylor Swift attends a premiere for the short film "All Too Well" at AMC Lincoln Square 13 on Friday, Nov. 12, 2021, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Taylor Swift, the American singer-songwriter, has received a new honour: a new millipede species have been named after her.

The Swift-inspired millipede species is called the Nannaria swiftae, and is described as a "twisted-claw millipede" from the Appalachian Mountains of the United States.

Scientists have long suspected that twisted-claw millipedes included many undiscovered species due to their presence in museum collections, but these specimens went undescribed for years, according to a news release announcing the findings.

After a multi-year field project, scientists at Virginia Tech University, described the new species in a research paper published in the journal, ZooKeys. The study was funded by a National Science Foundation Advancing Revisionary Taxonomy and Systematics grant.

Derek Hennen, lead of author of the study, is a fan of Taylor Swift and said her music helped him through school.

"Her music helped me get through the highs and lows of graduate school, so naming a new millipede species after her, is my way of saying thanks," he said in a news release.

The researchers started a mission to gather fresh specimens across the eastern United States. They visited 17 U.S. states, looking for species under leaf litter, rocks, and logs in order to sequence their DNA and scientifically identify them.

The authors reported 17 new species based on more than 1,800 specimens obtained during their field investigation or retrieved from university and museum collections, including “Nannaria marianae,” which was named after Hennen's wife.

The researchers determined that millipedes prefer wooded settings near streams and are frequently found buried beneath the earth, displaying more cryptic behaviours than their relatives.

These invertebrates play an important function as decomposers, releasing nutrients into the environment when they break down leaf litter.

They feed on decaying leaves and other plant materials on the forest floor, and they can be difficult to catch since they like to stay buried in the soil, sometimes almost entirely beneath the surface.

Taylor Swift is yet to acknowledge the Nannaria swiftae millipede. Last month it was revealed that Swift will receive an honourary doctorate from New York University in May.