{"id":113127,"date":"2023-05-12T13:29:33","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T12:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/?p=113127"},"modified":"2023-05-12T13:29:38","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T12:29:38","slug":"scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings","title":{"rendered":"Scientists name new butterfly after Sauron from Lord of the Rings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Scientists have named a butterfly after Sauron, the dark lord from Lord of the Rings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A new genus of butterfly, discovered by scientists from the Natural History Museum in London, has been named Saurona, which includes two species: Saurona triangula and Saurona aurigera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The black eye-spot pattern on the insects’ orange wings reminded the scientists of the \u2018all-seeing eye\u2019 from the world-famous books by J. R. R. Tolkien.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr Blanca Huertas, one of the researchers that named the new genus, said: \u201cNaming a genus is not something that happens very often, and it’s even more rare to be able to name two at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt shows that, even among a group of very similar-looking species, you can find beauty among the dullness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"904\" height=\"678\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Saur1.jpg\" alt=\"Scientists have named a butterfly after Sauron, the necromancing dark lord from Lord of the Rings.\" class=\"wp-image-113133\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Saur1.jpg 904w, https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Saur1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Saur1-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 904px) 100vw, 904px\" \/><figcaption><strong>SPOT ON: The black eye-spot pattern on the insects’ orange wings reminded scientists of the \u2018all-seeing eye\u2019 of Sauron from Lord of the Rings (Image Credit: B. Huertas (c) Trustees Natural History Museum)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The Saurona butterfly is one of many scientific discoveries to be named after the iconic villain, with other examples including a dung beetle, a frog, a dinosaur, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/NGC_4151\">an entire galaxy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While only two sub-species have been identified, researchers believe many more have yet to be discovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>London\u2019s Natural History Museum hopes the name linked to the Lord of the Rings will attract attention and help with further research.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0007149247.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-113147\" width=\"248\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0007149247.jpg 331w, https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0007149247-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 248px) 100vw, 248px\" \/><figcaption><strong>BOOK CLUB: <\/strong>JRR Tolkien’s classic<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The study conducted examined more than 400 different butterfly species, utilising the Natural History Museum’s butterfly collection, consisting of more than 5.5 million specimens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Due to developments in DNA science, the researchers were able to identify similar-looking species by their genetics, not just their appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study builds on of a decade\u2019s worth of research and was carried out by a team of 30 scientists from various institutions around the world, including Natural History Museum London, Harvard University, Florida Museum of Natural History, and Alexander Koenig Zoological Research Museum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/syen.12590\">Combining target enrichment and Sanger sequencing data to clarify the systematics of the diverse Neotropical butterfly subtribe Euptychiina (Nymphalidae, Satyrinae)<\/a>\u201d<\/em> was published in Systematic Entomology, a scientific journal dedicated to the study of insects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Featured image credit: B. Huertas (c) Trustees Natural History Museum<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scientists have named a butterfly after Sauron, the necromancing dark lord from Lord of the Rings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":113134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25621,3],"tags":[33963,13406,2483,30332],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Scientists name new butterfly after Sauron from Lord of the Rings |<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scientists have named a new genus of butterfly after Sauron, the necromancing dark lord in Lord of the Rings.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scientists name new butterfly after Sauron from Lord of the Rings |\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scientists have named a new genus of butterfly after Sauron, the necromancing dark lord in Lord of the Rings.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South West Londoner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-12T12:29:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-12T12:29:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Sau2-e1683890848185.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"478\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"newsdesk1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"newsdesk1\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"newsdesk1\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/33256a28eec0215b00ba93c8158d52c8\"},\"headline\":\"Scientists name new butterfly after Sauron from Lord of the Rings\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-12T12:29:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-12T12:29:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings\"},\"wordCount\":380,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"butterfly\",\"Lord of the Rings\",\"science\",\"zoology\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Kensington & Chelsea\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings\",\"name\":\"Scientists name new butterfly after Sauron from Lord of the Rings |\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-12T12:29:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-12T12:29:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"Scientists have named a new genus of butterfly after Sauron, the necromancing dark lord in Lord of the Rings.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Scientists name new butterfly after Sauron from Lord of the Rings\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"South West Londoner\",\"description\":\"News, Sport, Entertainment & Food\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#organization\",\"name\":\"South West Londoner\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/logo.png\",\"width\":800,\"height\":95,\"caption\":\"South West Londoner\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/33256a28eec0215b00ba93c8158d52c8\",\"name\":\"newsdesk1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c4edbabddcf084da3f4006cd15c0814?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c4edbabddcf084da3f4006cd15c0814?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"newsdesk1\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/author\/newsdesk1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Scientists name new butterfly after Sauron from Lord of the Rings |","description":"Scientists have named a new genus of butterfly after Sauron, the necromancing dark lord in Lord of the Rings.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Scientists name new butterfly after Sauron from Lord of the Rings |","og_description":"Scientists have named a new genus of butterfly after Sauron, the necromancing dark lord in Lord of the Rings.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings","og_site_name":"South West Londoner","article_published_time":"2023-05-12T12:29:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-12T12:29:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":478,"url":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Sau2-e1683890848185.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"newsdesk1","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"newsdesk1","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings"},"author":{"name":"newsdesk1","@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/33256a28eec0215b00ba93c8158d52c8"},"headline":"Scientists name new butterfly after Sauron from Lord of the Rings","datePublished":"2023-05-12T12:29:33+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-12T12:29:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings"},"wordCount":380,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#organization"},"keywords":["butterfly","Lord of the Rings","science","zoology"],"articleSection":["Kensington & Chelsea","News"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings","url":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings","name":"Scientists name new butterfly after Sauron from Lord of the Rings |","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-05-12T12:29:33+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-12T12:29:38+00:00","description":"Scientists have named a new genus of butterfly after Sauron, the necromancing dark lord in Lord of the Rings.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/news\/12052023-scientists-name-new-butterfly-after-sauron-from-lord-of-the-rings#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Scientists name new butterfly after Sauron from Lord of the Rings"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/","name":"South West Londoner","description":"News, Sport, Entertainment & Food","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#organization","name":"South West Londoner","url":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/logo.png","width":800,"height":95,"caption":"South West Londoner"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/33256a28eec0215b00ba93c8158d52c8","name":"newsdesk1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c4edbabddcf084da3f4006cd15c0814?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c4edbabddcf084da3f4006cd15c0814?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"newsdesk1"},"url":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/author\/newsdesk1"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113127"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113127"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113149,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113127\/revisions\/113149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}