Echiniscus Madonnae

According to Wikipedia, Tardigrades, commonly known as waterbears or moss piglets, are “small, water-dwelling,
segmented animals with eight legs, usually 1 millimetre long when they are fully grown.”

They are short and plump with 4 pairs of legs, each with 4-8 claws and can be found in
moss and lichen and, when collected, may be viewed under a very low-power
microscope.

Now we hear you asking out loud, what the heck has this to do with Madonna?

Well well well, in 2006 a new species of these little things, a water species, has been discovered by scientists and
it was named… after Madonna!

The Echiniscus Madonnae is indeed the first and the only (so far) species named in honour of the Queen Of Pop.
Echiniscus Madonnae presented to the world in the March 2006 issue of the international journal of animal
taxonomy Zootaxa where it is explained that “we take great pleasure in
dedicating this species to one of the most significant artists of our times, Madonna Louise Veronica Ritchie”.

We have decided to spare you the vision of Echiniscus Madonnae since at the moment we don’t have an official photo of it shot by Steven Klein!