Netflix’s urban fantasy horror series inspires the name of a new species of native Australian bee called the Lucifer Bee. The bee has tiny devil-like horns and matches the title perfectly. Notably, the popular urban-fantasy Netflix series premiered on January 25, 2016, and concluded on September 10, 2021. Lucifer is played by Welsh actor Tom Ellis.
Bee found in Australia named after Netflix’s Lucifer series
Netflix’s popular show inspired Australia-based scientists to name the newly discovered native bee species Lucifer Bee. The scientific name for the species is Megachile lucifer. It has tiny devil-like horns, rightfully earning the name Lucifer Bee.
Notably, in 2019, scholars were studying a critically endangered wildflower in Western Australia’s Goldfields. This is when they discovered this new species of native Australian bee. The Journal of Hymenoptera Research published a detailed report of their findings (via NBC News).
Lead author of the study and an adjunct research fellow at Curtin University, Kit Prendergast, revealed how the name Lucifer Bee came into being. Dr. Prendergast shared, “I discovered the species while surveying a rare plant in the Goldfields and noticed this bee visiting both the endangered wildflower and a nearby mallee tree.”
Furthermore, she confessed (via Curtin University), “The female had these incredible little horns on her face. When writing up the new species description, I was watching the Netflix show Lucifer at the time, and the name just fit perfectly. I am also a huge fan of the Netflix character Lucifer, so it was a no-brainer.”
The black female Lucifer bee has brilliant, upward-pointing horns. The scientists conducted an extensive DNA study and concluded that the Lucifer Bee was the first of its kind. Interestingly, the male bees don’t have horns, while the female Lucifer bees have horns measuring about 0.9 millimeters long.
Dr. Prendergast shared, “It’s the first new member of this bee group to be described in more than 20 years, which really shows how much life we still have to discover – including in areas that are at risk of mining, such as the Goldfields.”
However, scientists have warned that the new species could be at risk of extinction due to climate change. Dr. Prendergast said, “Without knowing which native bees exist and what plants they depend on, we risk losing both before we even realize they’re there.”
