Researchers have named a newly discovered species of giant prehistoric turtle after a universe-creating character that features in Stephen King's novel It, alongside the Dark Tower series of books.
The monstrous armoured reptile was thought to have lived between 40,000 to 9,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene period, during which time it may have lived alongside and potentially been hunted as a source of food by early humans in the Amazon.
The creature’s enormous jaw bone was discovered by workers at a gold mine in Porto Velho, Brazil, and was later digitised by the researchers using a portable hand scanner. Based on this data, the researchers estimated that the turtle would have had a colossal shell length of around 180 cm, making it almost half a meter bigger than the largest fresh water turtle living today.
Meet ????????????? ???????: a new giant freshwater ?from latest Pleistocene/Holocene of the ?? Amazon https://t.co/quPRvfLIpy
— Gabriel S. Ferreira (@GSFerreiraBio) March 13, 2024
(1/6) https://t.co/0AD9u3WaPp #turtle #paleo #paleontology pic.twitter.com/YCjZn3Y1y6
Stephen Maturin, the doctor in the Patrick O'Brian seagoing novels. https://t.co/4eJ4OFFo32
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) March 14, 2024
The fossil's gigantic proportions lead the scientists to name the species Peltocephalus Maturin, in reference to the fictional, god-like turtle Maturin, which vomited out the universe that serves as the setting for Stephen King's novel It. The benevolent turtle also appears as one of the guardians of the beams featured in King's eight-part Dark Tower book series, which, like It, has been adapted into a live-action movie, though perhaps the less said about that the better.
As noted in the paper published in the scientific journal Biology Letters - and by the author himself on X after reading the news - King’s character was itself named in reference to the fictional doctor Stephen Maturin, who, in the course of Patrick O’Brian’s seagoing novel H.M.S. Surprise, names a giant tortoise.
Of course this isn’t the first time scientists have drawn inspiration from fictional characters when naming a new discovery. For example, in 2023 a species of Peruvian snake was ironically given the name Tachymenoides harrisonfordi, in reference to Harrison Ford’s snake-hating character Indianna Jones.
We’ve also seen a species of Australian spider named Venomius tomhardi in reference to its distinctive thorax markings, while a naturally occurring burning eye-like decoration led to a newly discovered group of butterfly species being named Saurona. On the other end of the size scale, astronomers recently saw fit to dub one of the most distant stars ever discovered 'Earendel', in honour of a character from J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Silmarillion.
Image credit: Júlia d‘Oliveira
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
