Scientists name newly discovered snake after Guns N' Roses' Slash

In a surpising update, scientists named a newly discovered snake species from New Guinea Lielaphis slashi in honor of the legendary Guns N’ Roses guitarist 'Slash'.

Slash, also known as Saul Hudson, is famous worldwide as the guitarist for Guns N' Roses. But music is only part of his story.

The researchers chose to name the snake after Slash because of his lifelong, well-documented passion for reptiles and natural history.

Slash even called it an "extremely honored and humbled" moment, noting he has been a "herpetophile" since childhood.

Now that passion has earned him an unusual scientific honor. Researchers have named a newly identified snake species from New Guinea Lielaphis slashi, or Slash's groundsnake.

Lielaphis Slashi is a non-venomous, reddish-brown groundsnake that measures roughly 71 centimeters about 28 inches long.

It is nocturnal and features large teeth in the back of its mouth to help catch slippery lizards and reptile eggs.

While specimens were first encountered years ago, advanced genetic testing and physical scale counts recently confirmed it was an entirely distinct, previously unrecognized species.

For Sara Ruane, the Field Museum's Associate Curator of Herpetology and senior author of a paper in Zootaxa describing the species, the name also has a personal connection.

"Guns N' Roses has been one of my favorite bands since I was in first grade, and by fifth grade, I had already told my teacher that I wanted to be a herpetologist...a scientist who studies reptiles... when I grew up," says Sara Ruane, the Field Museum's Associate Curator of Herpetology and senior author of a paper in Zootaxa describing the new species.

"So when I was twelve years old and got my copy of Reptiles Magazine in the mail and it had a picture of Slash holding his pet reticulated python on the cover, I thought, 'This guy is so cool.'"

Years later, after Ruane became a scientist who sometimes has the opportunity to assign official names to newly recognized reptile species, she returned to that old magazine interview.