Air Date: Week of October 9, 2026

Slash is a hard rock and heavy metal guitarist, best known for playing in bands like Guns N’ Roses and - aptly for his love of reptiles - Slash’s Snakepit. (Photo: daigooliva, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)

A new species of snake recently discovered in the dense forests of New Guinea has been named after Slash, the lead guitarist for the rock band, Guns N’ Roses. Living on Earth’s Don Lyman reports in this note on emerging science that Slash has had a lifelong interest in reptiles and at one time even owned a python, an anaconda, and a boa.

Transcript

LYMAN: A new species of snake recently discovered in the dense forests of New Guinea has been named after Slash, the lead guitarist for the rock band, Guns N’ Roses.

A research team led by Sara Ruane, associate curator of herpetology at Chicago’s Field Museum, made the discovery. The specimen of Lielaphis slashi, also known as Slash’s groundsnake, was slender, 28 inches long, and reddish-brown. Ruane explained that snakes in this genus are poorly studied because they are elusive and nocturnal, making them difficult to observe in the wild.

Ruane had read a 1995 interview with Slash from Reptiles magazine, where the guitarist talked about his interest in reptiles, and how much he loved zoos, museums, natural history, and looking for snakes as a kid. At one time Slash even owned a python, an anaconda, and a boa, so it felt natural to Ruane to name the new snake species after him.

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When the rock star found out about his namesake, Slash said, “As a long-time herpephile, I’m extremely honored and humbled to have Lielaphis slashi from New Guinea named after me. It’s really exciting. I never would have imagined this moment would arrive.”

As a biologist with a lifelong interest in herpetology, and a guitarist who used to sing in rock bands, I share Slash’s interest in snakes and music, but no one has named a snake after me – not yet, anyway.

With this week’s note on emerging science, I’m Don Lyman.

 

Links

Popular Science | “New Snake Species Named in Honor of Guns N’ Roses Guitarist Slash”

Field Museum | “Welcome to the Jungle: Newly Discovered Snake Named After Slash From Guns n’ Roses”