Polish paleontologists named a 150-million-year-old sea lily in honor of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.
This was reported by Newsweek magazine.
Polish paleontologists who described a new echinoderm representative of the Jurassic period found in Ethiopia gave it the species epithet “zelenskyyi”.
"It was named in honor of Volodymyr Oleksandrovich Zelensky, the sixth and current president of Ukraine, for the courage and bravery shown in the defense of free Ukraine," the scientists noted.
The full name of the animal is Ausichicrinites zelenskyyi. Its size is about 5 centimeters in diameter. The creature lived 150 million years ago and had 10 long legs and sharp claws, similar to tentacles, with which it grabbed the seabed. Also, like modern sea lilies, it had the ability to regenerate.
Ausichicrinites zelenskyyi is the earliest example of regeneration documented in a fossil sea lily, according to Professor Mariusz Salamon of the University of Silesia in Katowice.