Star Wars has once again influenced pop culture, this time inspiring the name of a recently-discovered creature. The franchise George Lucas created has been ubiquitous since the first film hit theaters in 1977, making its way into everyday life in surprising ways. Washington D.C.’s National Cathedral, for example, had a Darth Vader grotesque installed in 1986.

Many flora and fauna have been named after Star Wars’ best-known characters. There is a furry moth native to Mexico named Wockia chewbacca, for example, along with a species of begonia plant called Begonia amidalae, after Padmé Amidala. The Tetramorium obiwan ant even honors one of the best-known Jedi Masters.

Now, according to National Geographic, the Krayt Dragon has been immortalized in the name of the 500-million-year-old, Kraytdraco spectatus, a recently-discovered type of priapulid worm, or “penis worm”. The Kraytdraco spectatus was discovered during a September 2023 fossil hunt in the Grand Canyon in which ancient rocks were dissolved in acid, leaving fossils behind.

What The Kraytdraco Spectatus Means For Star Wars & Science

Krayt Dragons originated as a somewhat obscure piece of Star Wars lore. A large skeleton in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope belongs to one of the creatures, but fans didn’t see a live-action version of the beast until The Mandalorian offered a look.

Now, thanks to Kraytdraco spectatus, the fictional species will gain even more recognition, if primarily in scientific circles.

National Geographic reported that the dig that uncovered Kratydraco spectatus aimed to find fossils from the Cambrian period, which it described as “the dawn of complex animal life.” This new find seems to qualify, as the publication stressed that one biological quirk–a throat ringed on the inside with feathery teeth–was unlike any other known species of priapulid worm.

Thus, Kraytdraco spectatus is more than a fun new reference to Star Wars; it’s also a potential leap forward in our understanding of the development of life on planet Earth.

Our Take On The Naming Of Kraytdraco Spectatus

It’s always fun to see a Star Wars reference in the real world, but if I were naming this species, I wouldn’t have chosen to reference Krayt Dragons. Kraytdraco spectatus is a new kind of priapulid, or (as I wrote above) penis worm. Even the Latin name, National Geographic specified, is derived from that of the Roman god of fertility.

The Kraytdraco spectatus itself was a burrower, and the National Geographic piece states that discoverer Giovanni Mussini remarked that it “more closely resembled the sandworms seen in Dune.” The best Star Wars comparison, then, is the Exogorth, or Space Slug–not the Krayt Dragon.

One of the Original Trilogy’s scariest beasts, the Exogorth is closer in looks to Kraytdraco spectatus than any Krayt Dragon. In fact, if anything from Star Wars could be a member of the penis worm family, it’s hard to argue for a better candidate than the slug that nearly devoured the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back.