U2's Bono Gets New Joshua Tree Spider Species Named After Him

Posted on Jan 21st 2013 11:00AM by Jason MacNeil
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Larry Busacca, Getty

Approximately three dozen kinds of a spider species commonly known as the trapdoor spider have been identified. And because three of them were found at the Joshua Tree National Park in California, one of the three is being named after U2 singer Bono.

According to The Press-Enterprise, A. bonoi was named after the U2 singer as a way to honor both him and the band's 1987 studio album The Joshua Tree. According to taxonomist Jason Bond of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History in Alabama, 33 new species of the genus "Aptostichus" were discovered. The spider is found in Nevada, Arizona and California.

The spider is known for creating burrows and then lining them with silk. The species then constructs a trap door made of silk, sand and other materials, waiting for insects to enter or come nearby to prey on. Two of the other three spider species found at Joshua Tree were named in honor of Native American tribes: A. chemehuevi and A. serrano.

Bono joins a list of other celebrities and even U.S. Presidents who have had species named after them, including current U.S. President Barack Obama, and comedian and television show host Stephen Colbert. In 2008, Bond named a similar trapdoor spider species after Neil Young: Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi.

Neither Bono nor the band made any comment on the species-naming honor although it seems rather appropriate given Bono and guitarist The Edge's work on the stage musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Then again a fly would've worked as well as U2 released "The Fly" as its lead single off the 1991 album Achtung Baby.

Watch U2's "The Fly" Video