Crab named after Severus Snape

In another post I wrote here that a new species of spider was named Eriovixia gryffindori in honour of the wizard Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts.

Now, a species of crab that managed to elude capture for 20 years after it was first identified from its remains has become the latest real-life creature to be named after a Harry Potter character. The crab was given the scientific name Harryplax severus and takes its name from Harry’s teacher Severus Snape[1].

Discovered some 20 years ago in Guam by collector Harry T. Conley, who was digging in rubble fields at low tide, biologists have only now identified it as a new species. It was Conley’s first name that provided the genus name – in honour of his prolific rummaging for crustaceans, deep in the Micronesian island’s mud. The name Harryplax is an arbitrary combination of 'Harry' and the suffix '-plax'. It is a coral rubble-dwelling pseudozioid crab. It's closest relative seems to be Christmaplax mirabilis, described from Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean. Harryplax severus represents the first record of Christmaplacidae in the Pacific Ocean.

Jose Mendoza and Peter Ng said they had named the new species severus as an allusion to the notorious and grossly misunderstood potions master Severus Snape “for his ability to keep one of the most important secrets in the story”.

[1] Mendoza, Ng: Harryplax severus, a new genus and species of an unusual coral rubble-inhabiting crab from Guam (Crustacea, Brachyura, Christmaplacidae) in Zookeys - 2017