Spinning a tune: Chinese scientist names new spider species after pop songs

Beijing: A Chinese scientist has named 16 new spider species after songs by popular Mandopop musician Jay Chou. Mi Xiaoqi, a professor at Tongren...

Beijing: A Chinese scientist has named 16 new spider species after songs by popular "Mandopop" musician Jay Chou.

Mi Xiaoqi, a professor at Tongren University in China's southwestern Guizhou province, listed the newly discovered arachnids in a paper published in the academic journal Zoological Research: Diversity and Conservation.

The paper, published in December, has gone viral since being discovered by netizens this year, with a related hashtag on microblogging platform Weibo racking up over 26 million views since Wednesday.

Weibo users have since dubbed Mi, 44, the "Ultimate Fan".

One of the arachnids -- the 3.5-millimetre long Cyclosa xingqing sp. nov. or "Starry Mood spider" -- is named after a hit love song from Chou's debut album "Jay" released in 2000.