A giant lizard that roamed the earth up to 40 million years ago has been named after The Doors frontman Jim Morrison.
The now extinct lizard, which was 6 feet long, has been named Barbaturex morrisoni after the dead rock star, who had the nickname “the Lizard King.”
“I was listening to The Doors quite a bit during the research,” said study author Jason Head of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in a statement. “Some of their musical imagery includes reptiles and ancient places, and Jim Morrison was of course The Lizard King, so it all kind of came together.”
The lizard was discovered from fossils and was believed to have lived primarily in South East Asia.
It was a herbivore, but grew much larger than other lizards at the time and many other mammals, weighing as much as 60 pounds.
Morrison first earned the nickname the Lizard King after writing a poem entitled “The Celebration of the Lizard,” which appeared on the Waiting for the Sun album sleeve.
