Dominic Monaghan has spider named after him

Experts have named a new species of spider after Lost star Dominic Monaghan after he discovered the creature during an expedition to Southeast Asia.

The British actor headed to some of the world's most uninhabited regions to hunt for dangerous creepy-crawlies as part of his nature show Dom's Wild Things, which debuted in his native Britain last year (12), and he told WENN he would love to be the inspiration for a rare or endangered species.

He said, "I just wanna keep exploring and I'd like to find a species that has not been known to science before and then maybe call it after my family name. Maybe in these places like Papua New Guinea or in the rainforests of South America there will be something that has never been discovered."

Now it seems his dreams have been realized after Dominic Monaghan and his team stumbled across a new species of spider while filming the second season of Dom's Wild Things, and German expert Dr. Peter Jager has revealed the arachnid's scientific name is Ctenus monaghani, inspired by the enthusiastic actor.

He says, "He places nature in the foreground in a very special manner."