Guns N’ Roses’ Slash is the namesake of a new species of snake.
Lielaphis slashi or Slash’s groundsnake, as it will commonly be known as, is a non-venomous, 28-inch-long reddish-brown snake from the forests of New Guinea.
“As a long-time herpephile, I am extremely honoured and humbled to have Lielaphis slashi from New Guinea named after me. It is really exciting, I never would have imagined this moment would arrive,” says Slash in a statement.
Slash isn’t kidding about his herpetophilia. Not only did he name his band Slash’s Snakepit and call his travelling festival S.E.R.P.E.N.T., he is an avid collector of reptiles, having kept many as pets in his homes for decades.
The legendary guitarist (real name Saul Hudson) was chosen because of his life-long love of reptiles and support for zoos and museums. But also because Sara Ruane, the Field Museum’s Associate Curator of Herpetology and senior author of a paper in Zootaxa, is a massive GN’R fan.
“Guns N’ Roses has been one of my favourite bands since I was in first grade, and by fifth grade, I had already told my teacher that I wanted to be a herpetologist - a scientist who studies reptiles -when I grew up,” says Ruane. “So when I was twelve years old and got my copy of Reptiles Magazine in the mail, and it had a picture of Slash holding his pet reticulated python on the cover, I thought, ‘This guy is so cool.’”
The Lielaphis slashi was discovered, researched, and identified as a new species by biologists Ruane, Chris Austin, Justin Bernstein, Jeffrey Frederick, Tianqi Huang, Bulisa Iova, and Jackson Roberts of the Field Museum.
“These New Guinea groundsnakes are nocturnal, so the best way to find them is at night. They are typically found just after sunset at the base of large trees where they are looking for something to eat,” says Chris Austin, a co-author of the paper describing the new species. “When working at night in New Guinea, you need to be very careful, as there are several highly venomous species that look very similar to the non-venomous groundsnakes.”
You can read more about Slash’s groundsnake at the Field Museum site.
Slash recently contributed guitar work to Ari Balouzian’s soundtrack for Monsters of God, the A24/HBO documentary series currently streaming on Crave here in Canada.