Brittle stars belong to the group of echinoderms, and are related to, among other things, sea stars and sea urchins. The 13 newly discovered species of brittle stars that have been found as fossils on Gotland have been given names such as Kansas, Doro, Archspire, Immolation, Obituary, Ian Paice (Deep Purple), Tomas Haake (Meshuggah) and John Bonham (Led Zeppelin).
"We had a lot of fun when we did this study", says geology professor Mats E Eriksson in a press release from Lund University.
It's not the first time researchers have taken names from this music genre.
"We want to honor people from the metal community who have had an enormous positive and cultural impact on our lives by combining love for nature and art", says Mats E Eriksson in the press release.
The 13 newly named species lived during the Silurian period. During this time, a size reduction is seen in brittle stars, which forced a change in the skeleton of brittle stars, an evolutionary change that coincided with a global marine crisis.
