Originally published in The Blade on Friday, September 5, 2008
Some of history's most important figures have been rewarded with mountains, cities, even states that bear their names. Stephen Colbert got a spider. The host of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central recently had a California trapdoor spider, found last year, named after him: Aptostichus stephencolberti. He's not alone. Rocker Neil Young has a spider namesake too. In fact, it turns out that plenty of celebs have lent their name to a creature. Here are nine favorites. — Ryan E. Smith