December 15, 2012 10:39

New species of tarantula spider named after Megadeth's Dave Mustaine

Aphonopelma Davemustainei was recently discovered in Arizona and New Mexico

Photo: Tom Martin/NME

A new species of tarantula spider has been named after Megadeth's Dave Mustaine.

The heavy-rocker took to Twitter to announce to his fans that a recently discovered arachnid has been named after him. The Aphonopelma Davemustainei was found in Southwestern New Mexico and Arizona by scientist Brent E. Hendrixson.

A clearly delighted Mustaine tweeted:

How cool is this? I got my own tarantula named after me! Totally metal!!! twitter.com/DaveMustaine/s…
— Dave Mustaine (@DaveMustaine) December 12, 2012

Everyone knows scientists love their metal, so it may not come as too much of a surprise to find that Hendrixson named the creature after his favourite axe-wielder. In 2006, a Dr Mats E. Eriksson named a worm, Kalloprion Kilmisteri, after Motorhead frontman Lemmy.

Earlier this year, Dave Mustaine delivered a shocking diatribe against US President Barack Obama, accusing him of "staging" the shootings in Aurora, Colorado and at the Wisconsin Sikh temple.

The singer was performing with his band in Singapore when he delivered the bizarre rant against the president, who he said was trying to secure new laws to control gun ownership by staging the shootings. Mustaine also said that he believed the United States was "turning into Nazi America".

In 2011 Megadeth released their 13th studio album, titled 'Th1rt3en'. The album was the follow-up to the band's 2009 LP 'Endgame'.

Video: Megadeth - 'We're Just Happy To Get To The Studio'

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