Indian scientist pays unique tribute to Sachin Tendulkar by naming spider after batting great

Marengo sachintendulkar is part of the Indomarengo and Marengo genus of Asian jumping spiders

A research scholar in India has paid tribute to Sachin Tendulkar by giving the former batsman’s name to a new species of spider.

Arachnologist Dhruv Prajapati, who works with the Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER) Foundation, opted to name his discovery 'Marengo sachintendulkar'.

The creature is part of the Indomarengo and Marengo genus of Asian jumping spiders.

“I named (one spider) Marengo sachintendulkar because Sachin happens to be my favourite cricketer,” Prajapati told Times of India.

It was discovered in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat. Prajapati collected the specimens of the species in 2015, but the research was completed in 2017.

Tendulkar remains the top run-scorer in international cricketing history; with 34,357 runs, he sits more than 6,000 ahead of Kumar Sangakkara, who is his closest competitor.

A second spider, Prajapati explained, he has named after Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, who was an Indian Catholic priest in the 19th century, campaigning for education awareness in Kerala.

Tendulkar is not the first cricketer to be honoured in this way. Former West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul has had a caecilian - a limbless, serpentine amphibian - named after him. ‘Rhinatrema shiv’ was discovered in 2010.

^{Header image: @Dhruv_spidy}

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