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New species of spider named after Neil Young

12.05.2008 14:02 Arts - Source: cbc.ca

Neil Young, seen here in Berlin in February, has had a new species of trapdoor spider named after him.(Markus Schreiber/Associated Press)

Canadian singer and songwriter Neil Young is rockin' in the bug world after an American biologist named a new species of trapdoor spider after his favourite musician.

East Carolina University biologist Jason Bond calls the new species Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi.

"There are rather strict rules about how you name new species," Bond said in a statement.

"As long as these rules are followed you can give a new species just about any name you please. With regards to Neil Young, I really enjoy his music and have had a great appreciation of him as an activist for peace and justice."

The 62-year-old veteran rocker — whose hits include Rockin' in the Free World, Heart of Gold and Old Man — rose to fame in the 1960s with the band Buffalo Springfield and later, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

In recent years, the Toronto-born singer has become a vocal social activist and an anti-war advocate with CDs such as Living with War.

Bond discovered the new spider species in Jefferson County, Alabama, in 2007. The trapdoor spider tends to live in burrows and build trap doors to seal off their living quarters.

Young is not the first musician to have a creature named after him.

A species of beetle that looks as if it is wearing a tuxedo was named earlier this year after the late rock legend Roy Orbison. The whirligig beetle is also known as Orectochilus orbisonorum.

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