European scientists have made a new breakthrough in matters of the mysterious "basket star:" a creepy, slender-armed relative of the starfish, resembling a cross between a parasitic alien and a spindly sea-bush. After analyzing fossil remains of two basket stars unearthed in Germany, paleontologist Ben Thuy and zoologist Sabine Stöhr discovered two never-before-seen specimens, believed to be the ancient ancestors of today's basket stars. As the first researchers to identify the species, Thuy and Stöhr were given the honor of naming the critters.
Here's where this scientific story takes a Revolver-appropriate turn: when it came time to pick out the basket stars' formal titles, the pair opted to pay tribute for Swedish metal legion Arch Enemy, who soundtracked their long, long nights at the fossil lab. Meet 'Melusinaster arcusinimus' (the Latin translation of the band's moniker) and 'Melusinaster alissawhitegluzae,' a species named for frontman Alissa White-Gluz. What's more, the published study shouts out the latter musician "for being an inspiring person, and to pay tribute to the intensity, authenticity and passion that she conveys in her powerful vocals," Paris' Musée Nationale D'histoire Naturelle notes in a blog post detailing the discovery.
Arch Enemy — who are gearing up for a run of fall dates behind last year's album Will to Power — aren't the first band to get a fossil named after them. Back in 2014, several European scientists launched a traveling exhibition, "Heavy Metal and Punk Fossils," featuring an array of critters with cvlt namesakes, Blabbermouth points out. Highlights included the ancient worms Kingnites diamondi and Kalloprion kilmisteri, so named for King Diamond and Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister; Arcticalymene visciousi, a trilobite named after Sex Pistols figurehead Sid Vicious; and more.
Below, watch Arch Enemy's lead vocalist Alissa White-Gluz discuss the complicated relationship between gender and art, why people need to stop treating "female-fronted music" as its own subgenre, and more:
