Scientists discover new species of spider and name it after Tom Hardy and Venom
Joe Harker
Featured Image Credit: Murdoch University / Sony
Scientists have discovered a new type of spider in Australia and named it in honour of Tom Hardy and his character Venom.
When discovering a new animal, one of the hardest things has got to be working out what to call it since that's what everyone's going to be calling your big discovery pretty much forever.
After an expedition to Tasmania discovered this new type of spider, there must have been some superhero movie fans among the team as they spotted some distinctive markings on the spider which reminded them of the movie Venom.
Scientists MSc Giullia Rossi, Dr Pedro Castanheira, and Dr Volker Framenau of Murdoch University worked with Dr Renner Baptista from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro to name the spider because of the distinctive black spots on its abdomen.
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The markings reminded the team of Venom's eyes in the movie, at least during the times when he's not peeling back his face to show Hardy's appearance underneath.
Because of this they've dubbed the new spider 'Venomius tomhardyi', with it being the only spider of the newly discovered 'Venomius' genus to be found, so perhaps one day the family could consist of more than just the 'tomhardyi' spiders.
While you might reckon that a spider named 'Venomius' to be, you know, venomous that's not actually the case so if you ever encounter one in the wild, it's probably fine to see if you can get a better look at it's distinctive pattern which scientists reckon makes it look like Hardy's character.
However, at this point, Hardy's take on the alien symbiote is yet to really dig into the whole spider thing as he's not interacted with the MCU beyond a couple of cameos.
Perhaps one day we'll see a Venom crossover with Tom Holland's Spidey and on that day, Venom will probably start becoming a lot more spider-like in his behaviour.
While Hardy's Venom likes eating bad guys, the Venomius tomhardyi prefers to shelter in the branches of trees and spin circular webs to trap prey.
According to IGN, this is by no means the first time scientists have looked to the world of entertainment when trying to figure out what to call newly discovered species.
There's an ant, spider and a snake (why did it have to be snakes) named after Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford, who has had to deal with both while navigating traps on the way to treasure.
Meanwhile, a butterfly was named after Lord of the Rings baddie Sauron after researchers reckoned the pattern on its wings looked like the burning eye, lidless and unblinking, from Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien's legendary fantasy series.