New butterflies named after the villain of The Lord of the Rings have been discovered

Scientists in the UK have named a new group of butterflies after Sauron, a character from the popular movie and book series the Lord of the Rings.

Sorona butterflies have orange wings with black rings. They remind researchers at the Natural History Museum in London of the evil Burning Eye of Sauron.

Sorona butterflies were discovered by a group of thirty scientists. They studied the DNA of more than 400 different species of butterflies and discovered two species similar to Sauron. They are now christened in the triangle Saurona and Saurona aurigera. Scientists believe that there are more types of Saurona.

The museum hopes the catchy name of the butterflies will draw more attention to the collection and thus further research.

Saurona butterflies weren’t the first animals named after Sauron. The dung beetle, frog and dinosaur were previously named after the villain the Lord of the Rings.