November 16, 2000

1:56 PM

New dinosaur named for Michael CrichtonChinese researcher Dong Zhiming named a newly-identified Jurassic herbivore "Crichton's Ankylosaur". Jurassic Park is responsible for a great deal of the current interest in palaeontology, so this seems appropriate.
posted by Mars Saxman (5 comments total)

If this dinosaur's name is inspired by Crichton's literary oeuvre, I imagine it's large and plodding, with a brief lifespan.
posted by Byun-o-matic at 2:18 PM on November 16, 2000

So, Crichton gets to join the ranks of Terry "Discworld" Pratchett (who has an extinct turtle named for him), and Gary "Far Side" Larson (whose name was given to what, some kind of insect?).
posted by harmful at 3:13 PM on November 16, 2000

Gary Larson has the honor of having a louse (Strigiphilus garylarsoni) named after him.
posted by Aaaugh! at 4:00 PM on November 16, 2000

Shoulda been a cow.

Anyway, Pratchett's turtle is known to the cognoscenti as psephophorus terrypratchetti, if anyone wants to pretend to care. I don't know what they call the elephants.
posted by harmful at 6:05 PM on November 16, 2000

large and plodding

Eh? Crichton hardly seems plodding to me. Maybe I haven't read the same books you have.

Now, Tom Clancy is a different story.
posted by daveadams at 8:30 AM on November 17, 2000