''Ricinus vaderi'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

chewing lice The Mallophaga are a possibly paraphyletic section of lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been reco ...

which parasitises the

calandra lark The calandra lark (''Melanocorypha calandra'') or European calandra-lark breeds in warm temperate countries around the Mediterranean and eastwards through Turkey into northern Iran and southern Russia. It is replaced further east by its relative ...

(''Melanocorypha calandra'') in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. It is a member of ''

Ricinus ''Ricinus communis'', the castor bean or castor oil plant, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus, ''Ricinus'', and subtribe, Ricininae. The evolution of cas ...

'', the largest genus of chewing lice found parasitizing

Passeriformes A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

.Bernard C. Nelson (1972): ''A Revision of the New World Species of ''Ricinus'' (Mallophaga). Occurring on Passeriformes (Aves)'', University of California Publications in Entomology Volume 68, University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles,
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The species name is derived from

Darth Vader Darth Vader is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy. ''Star Wars'' creator George ...

, a fictional character in the

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

series. According to Miroslav Valan, Oldrich Sychra and Ivan Literak, the first author's fiancée noticed a similarity between the head of the ''R. vaderi'' and Darth Vader's helmet.

References

External links

EntomologyToday (26 February 2016): New Chewing Lice Species Named after Darth Vader
Lice Star Wars Insects described in 2016 Fauna of Azerbaijan Darth Vader {{louse-stub