Photo/Illutration An artist’s rendition of Yamatosaurus izanagii, a new dinosaur species discovered on Awajishima island in Hyogo Prefecture, left ((c) Masato Hattori)

Not all historic discoveries are necessarily given dignified names.

A female Australopithecus afarensis from 3.2 million years ago was nicknamed Lucy after the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” which was playing when her fossil skeleton was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974.

Some creative liberty is taken with Latin scientific names, too.

According to Stephen B. Heard’s “Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider: How Scientific Names Celebrate Adventurers, Heroes, and Even a Few Scoundrels,” a huntsman spider was named Heteropoda davidbowie after rock star David Bowie (1947-2016).

Skinny and long-legged, the arachnid is said to resemble Bowie with his orange hair.

A species of horsefly is named after singer Beyonce, while a bee derives its name from baseball legend Ichiro Suzuki.

According to a recent report, a new species of dinosaur was given the name of Yamatosaurus izanagii after its fossils were found on Awajishima island in Hyogo Prefecture.

In mythology, Awajishima is the starting point of the nation-building.

According to “Kojiki” (Records of Ancient Matters), the gods Izanagi and Izanami created an island called Onogorojima, alit on it and spawned Awajishima and other islands of Japan.

The dinosaur is considered an especially primitive species of the Hadrosauridae family, which was distributed around the world.

Researchers perhaps chose the mythical name because they theorized with excitement that the creature may have originated the proliferation of duck-billed herbivores.

Japanese mythology was used to advance the argument of an emperor-oriented view of history.

Today, it is something we can even have fun with.

Let me quote from Yu Onodera’s light-hearted novel adaptation of “Kojiki” for young adults.

“Hey, Izanami, why don’t we name this island Onogorojima?? Let’s build a temple here.”

“Cool! Love it!!”

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 4

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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