Newly discovered butterfly species named after Sauron from The Lord of the Rings

Sauron is the dark lord of Mordor from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. And now, a newly discovered group of butterflies shares his name. Don’t worry, they’re nowhere near as scary.

The BBC reports that a new group of butterflies has been dubbed with the “Saurona” genus. “Experts hit on the name Saurona because the black rings on the insect’s orange wings reminded them of the all-seeing eye described in JRR Tolkien’s books.”

A new kind of butterfly named after Sauron, the dark lord of Middle-earth

As of right now, the freshly minted Saurona genus of butterfly has two members: Saurona triangular and Saurona aurigera. Scientists expect to add name more Saurona butterflies in the days to come.

These butterflies have been discovered and named as a result of a decade-long study of the Euptychiina butterfly subtribe conducted by more than 30 scientists, using both visual markers on the butterflies’ physical appearances as well as DNA technology to discern minute differences in species. They studied more than 400 different types of butterflies.

As for the name “Saurona,” that was picked by Dr. Blanca Huertas, a member of the group of scientists conducting the study as well as the curator of the butterflies at The Natural History Museum in London (and obviously a giant nerd). The museum is hoping that using Sauron’s name will draw more attention to the discovery, and here we are talking about it so they must be on to something. Beyond the two new Saurona butterflies, the scientists also discovered another genus which they’ve named Argenteria, which means “silver mine,” as a nod to the silver scaling on its wings.

This isn’t the first time Sauron’s name has been applied to the animal kingdom. In addition to these new butterflies, his name has also been referenced while naming new kinds of dung beetles, frogs, and even a dinosaur. The dark lord may have met his end on Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings, but clearly his influence still holds sway here.

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