The popularity of Pokémon It has not stopped growing over the years until it has become a global phenomenon. Maybe someone has not played any game in the saga, but it is very difficult to find someone who has never heard his name or the name of some of his species, especially Pikachu.
And the franchise has appeared in countless places, such as in music videos, on television, in series, mangas, etc., but what may not be so well known to many is that Pokémon has also been part of science. It seems that among the scientific experts there must have been many fans of the saga developed by Game Freak.
More than anything because there are not especially few bugs that exist in reality whose name is based on some of the best-known Pokémon of this franchise that has been with us for almost 30 years. Without a doubt the most used have been those of Pikachu and Charizard, and if not you just have to see the following examples to verify it.
Pikachu
Starting with the most well-known Pokémon in the entire world, Pikachu was used to give the name to a species of spider which lives in certain regions of Asia and is known as Alistra Pikachu, which, as described by scientists Yejie Lin and Shuqiang Li in 2021, received this name due to its yellow appearance.
Likewise, the Epicratinus Pikachu is another type of spider found in northeastern Brazil. It was the arachnologists Antonio Gonçalves and Antonio Domingos Brescovit who gave the name to this spider in 2020 because it is said that the female’s epigyn resembles that of a Pikachu’s face.
Hyperantha Pikachu
But its name has not only been used for spiders, because in 2017 it was also the one that it was put on a species of springtail which is found in the southeast of Brazil and is known as Dicranocentrus Pikachu. And we are not leaving the country of South America, since in 2021 Cristian Pineda and Rafael Barros based themselves on this Pokémon for the Hiperantha Pikachu, a species of beetle whose elytra are yellow with black tips, just like the ears. from Pikachu himself.
On the other hand, it has not only been used with animals, because in 2008 a group of Japanese researchers from the Osaka Bioscience Institute discovered a protein they called Pikachurina. The reason is because it is essential to transport information to the brain, since it is responsible for, with very rapid movements, the cells providing electrical impulses that go from the eyes to the brain.
Charizard
Another of the Pokémon that has had the most presence in the entire saga is Charizard. Charmander’s final evolution that turns him into a kind of dragon (despite being a Fire/Flying type) is seen to have been enough to give a name to a species of bee which was discovered by Canadian researcher Spencer K. Monckton in 2016.
It is the Chilicola Charizard, a bee that lives in Chile, but in reality the reason why this Pokémon was taken as a reference is simply due to the love of the saga on the part of its discoverer, because in reality it does not have any other similar beyond its orange color in certain parts.
Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres
The famous legendary birds of the first generation did not want to be outdone and also have their place in this list of curiosities. Biology professor at the University of New Mexico, Darren A. Pollock, and Yun Hsiao, who years ago was a student at the Australian National University, discovered in 2020 three species of beetles.
This trio was located in Australia and the reason for choosing the names Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres is because, as in the video games themselves, these insects are extremely rare. Thus they became known as Binburrum Articuno, Binburrum Zapdos and Binburrum Moltres.
Bulbasaur
We are not going away from the first generation of the saga, because Bulbasaur also served to give its name to Bulbasaurus Phylloxyron. However, in part it is practically coincidence, because this species of dicynodonta mammal that existed 260 million years ago, was discovered in January 2017.
Its relationship with Pokémon is simply a coincidence, because the name given to it by scientists is simply due to its bulb-shaped nose and not because it is inspired by Bulbasaur. Even so, its species called phylloxyron means Sharp Leaf, like one of the attacks of this Pokémon, because its sharp beak was used to cut materials that it used to feed.
Weedle
There are many Bug-type Pokémon in the saga, so it makes sense that one of them was taken as the basis for naming a real-life insect. The same thing has happened with Weedle and Stentorceps Weedlei, a kind of wasp discovered in 2011 and found in some areas of Botswana and Madagascar.
The reason why he chose the name Weedle was because of its tiny size and especially because of the horn on its head, thus coinciding with one of the most characteristic aspects of the Bug/Poison type Pokémon.
Politoed y Dratini
Dratini, the Dragon-type Pokémon from the first generation, and Politoed, the evolution of Poliwhirl that debuted in the second generation, have nothing to do with each other in the video games themselves, but scientifically speaking they do share certain details.
In 2018 it was discovered a species of nematode, very thin worms that invade blood vessels, and in the case of Parapharyngodon Politoedi parasitizes the intestines of tree frogs. For its part, Hedruris Dratini is another nematode that in this case parasitizes the stomach of freshwater turtles and uses the name Dratini due to its combination of the word dra (dragon) and tini (small).
Pheromone
Perhaps Pheromosa is not as well known as the rest of the Pokémon indicated or compared to a large part of those that appear in the saga, but entomologists Foo Maosheng and Cristian C. Lucañas could not avoid using its name for Nocticola Pheromosa, a kind of cockroach which they discovered this same year in Singapore.
They consider themselves great fans of Pokémon and, as this insect looks similar to this fearsome Ultra Beast, that is why they wanted to pay tribute to it. In fact, it even makes sense because they both have long antennae, wings, and very long, thin legs.
Treecko, Grovyle y Sceptile
The starter Pokémon of the third generation of Grass type is Treecko, capable of evolving into Grovyle and Sceptile. All of them also have real bugs that have got their names, specifically they are Anyphaena Treecko, Anyphaena Grovyle and Anyphaena Sceptile, three types of spiders Descubiertas en 2021 en Asia por Yejie Lin y Shuqiang Li.
All of them are located in forests, considered their main habitat, which coincides with that of Treecko and its evolutions, hence this inspiration.
Aerodactyl
We finish with Aerodactyl, one of the fossil Pokémon of the first generation and it makes perfect sense that it has also made a place on this list. To do this we have to go back almost 200 years, to 1850, when the German paleontologist Hermann von Meyer discovered a specimen in Bavaria that he called Pterodactylus Longirostris.
However, in 2014, scientists Steven Vidovic and David Martill decided to change its name to Aerodactylus Scolopaciceps, precisely after that of this Pokémon, given that the name of this extinct pterosaur is a mixture of the words Aero (wind) and Dactylus ( finger).
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