''Han'' is a

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

agnostid Agnostidae is a family of Agnostida trilobites. Like all Agnostina, they were eyeless and had only two thoracic segments. These trilobites inhabited benthic waters worldwide from 508 to 461 million years ago. The family includes the following gene ...

trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three-lobed entities") are extinction, extinct marine arthropods that form the class (biology), class Trilobita. One of the earliest groups of arthropods to appear in the fossil record, trilobites were among the most succ ...

, whose sole member is ''Han solo''. The type specimen of ''H. solo'' was found in marine strata of the Arenig to Llanvirn-aged Zitai Formation of Middle

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and is named after the

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to Theoph ...

in ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

''.

Taxonomy

This taxon was erected in 2005, based upon fossil material found in beds of lower Zitai Formation exposed in Maocaopu, Reshi,

Taoyuan County Taoyuan County () is under the administration of Changde, Hunan, Hunan Province, China. The Yuan River, a tributary of the Yangtze, flows through Taoyuan. It covers an area of 4441 square kilometers, of which is arable land. It is from Zhangji ...

in north

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

. Fossil material include a

cephalon Cephalon, Inc. was an American biopharmaceutical company co-founded in 1987 by pharmacologist Frank Baldino Jr., Frank Baldino, Jr., neuroscientist Michael Lewis, and organic chemist James C. Kauer—all three former scientists with the DuPont ...

and two pygidia. It was found to belong to family Diplagnostidae, subfamily Pseudagnostinae; it was originally thought to be most closely related to the genus '' Pseudorhaptagnostus'', but it differed substantially from that genus in both some important diagnostic characters, and in the age of the beds in it was deposited, so a new genus was erected.

Etymology

According to the original publication, the generic name ''Han'' is a reference to the

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

, the largest

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

in China; and the specific epithet ''solo'' refers to the fact that the species is the youngest Diplagnostidae fossil found to that date, suggesting that it was the last surviving member of that family. However, Samuel Turvey has stated elsewhere that he named it after

Han Solo Han Solo () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in the 1977 film ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'', and later appeared in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), ''Star Wars: The F ...

because some friends dared him to name a species after a ''

'' character. This is not the only unusual scientific name erected by Turvey; in the same paper he named a new species '' Geragnostus waldorfstatleri'', because of "the resemblance of the pygidial axis to the heads of Waldorf and Statler, two characters from ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with ru ...

''."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1087445 Agnostida genera Fossil taxa described in 2005 Monotypic trilobite genera Ordovician trilobites Star Wars Humour in science Diplagnostidae

Taxonomy

Etymology

See also

References