Rio’s Penn Jillette Immortalized With His Own Spider
As if a 20-year, record-breaking residency at a Las Vegas hotel weren’t enough, comedy-magician Penn Jillette now has another item to beef up his resume: There’s a spider named after him.
Jason Bond, Director of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, recently discovered the spider and named it the Atomic Penn Jillette spider. The scientific name is “Aptostichus pennjillettei.” Yes, there will be a quiz.
If we had discovered this spider, it would now be named the "AIEEEEEE!" spider.
The Atomic Penn Jillette spider is quarter-sized, rust-colored and native to Nevada’s nuclear testing site. The spider was named after Penn because, among other things, he’s an outspoken advocate of scientific skepticism.
Arachnophiles will immediately see the similarities between the Atomic Penn Jillette spider and Aptostichus atomarius, mainly because of all the free time arachnophiles have due to not being busy with things like “being invited to parties” and “girlfriends.”
Read more about the Atomic Penn Jillette spider, and its discovery by Professor Jason Bond, at the Las Vegas Review Journal. See Penn & Teller at Rio Las Vegas.
