Two new species of Lizards have been discovered in in the Historic Sanctuary of Machupicchu, Peru. One of them was named Proctoporus optimus. This after Optimus Prime because one of the Transformers films was filmed in in Peru.

Source

 

smg not a maximal name

this offends me as a herpetology fan

 

Should've gone with Iguanus or somethin'.

Still kinda neat, though I find these species named after pop culture more humorous than anything.

 

I don't particularly see the resemblance. I wonder if we'll get a repaint in proper G1 Prime colors 2 million years in the future?

 

It's publicity. Nobody bats an eye if they name it something wholly appropriate, to the point where it just blends in. But now you get pop-culture e-zines promoting "Newly-discovered lizard species named after Optimus Prime", and now everybody knows about it. It's a gimmick, but it's calculated.

 

Yeah... and from that perspective, I get it. But in retrospect after the initial buzz it just ... looks tacky.

 

It's not like "optimus" isn't perfectly valid Latin. It just stands out especially to Transformers fans.

 

They'll declare it extinct and then find one alive.

 

Alligaticon? Is that you?

 

Neat.

Amusingly, I just found at yesterday Nick Roche has a type of Pterosaur named after him for his Dinobot art.

 

Putting in my preorder, now!

 

This is pretty neat.

Found a source in English by the way (OP's post is the actual source but this is just the translated equivalent): Peru: Researchers discover two new species of lizard | DW | 29.05.2022

 

Beast Mode Optimus Prime confirmed for RotB. He’ll assume a salamander alt mode!

 

Crazy that they discovered a new species in somewhere so famous. Reminds me of the time they found a new frog species in New York City.

 

Named by the board’s own @GWolfv2 no less!

 

It's not the study of genital herpes for anyone enquiring. You sick bastards.