Willie Nelson gets species of grasshopper named after him

It may seem crazy, but country music legend Willie Nelson now has a new species of grasshoppers named after him.

Nelson, who turned 90 in April, got the designation from a research team that discovered the species in central Texas, The Dallas Morning News reported. The flightless grasshoppers are called “Melanoplus nelsoni,” according to a study, “Diversification deep in the heart of Texas,” which was published in ZooKeys, a scientific journal.

Another country music legend, Jerry Jeff Walker, also had a species named after him, according to the Morning News. That species is called “Melanoplus walkeri,” according to ZooKeys.

With this new discovery, we're celebrating #grasshopper diversity AND great music.

Our author @JoVonnH described seven #newspecies of #grasshoppers - read all about them on the @Pensoft blog.https://t.co/FRRLxEjhKv
— ZooKeys (@ZooKeys_Journal) June 12, 2023

Scientists said the central region of Texas is a known “hotspot” for biological wonders, according to Fox News.

Research teams led by Dr. JoVonn Hill -- a country music fan -- have made several expeditions to the area, according to the news organization.

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Hill said the researchers were inspired by listening to country music during trips to the area.

“We’d all be loaded up in the truck. And in Texas, there’s a lot of roads and a lot of time in the car between sites,” Hill, an assistant research professor at Mississippi State University and director of the Mississippi Entomological Museum, told the Morning News. “So, of course, you bring your music and when you’re in Texas, you gotta listen to Texas music. I thought it would be a cool way to honor them for their contributions, but also just the joy they brought us.”

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The team found seven previously unknown flightless grasshopper species, with six of them endemic to the Edwards Plateau in central Texas, Fox News reported.

In 1972, Nelson reinvented his career in Austin, located east of the Edwards Plateau. In 1975, he released the album “Red Headed Stranger,” the Morning News reported.

Walker, who died in October 2020, also has ties to the region. Walker, who wrote and recorded “Mr. Bojangles” in 1968, recorded his 1973 “Viva Terlingua!” in Luckenbach, according to the newspaper.

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