A giant lizard that lived 40 million years ago has been named in honour of rock singer Jim Morrison, palaeontologists said.
古生物學家表示，一種生活在距今4000萬年前的巨型蜥蜴，已被依照搖滾歌手吉姆．莫里森之名來命名。
Around 1.80m from snout to tail and tipping the scales at up to 27 kilos, the plant-eating reptile is one of the biggest-known lizards ever to have lived on land. It competed with mammals for food in the humid tropical forests of Southeast Asia.
這種草食性爬蟲類動物自鼻尖到尾巴長約180公分，體重可達27公斤，是陸地上體型最大的蜥蜴之一。牠在濕熱的東南亞森林中和哺乳動物爭奪食物。
"We think the warm climate during the late-middle Eocene period allowed the evolution of a large body size and the ability of plant-eating lizards to successfully compete in mammal faunas," said Jason Head of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln who led the analysis.
「我們認為始新世中晚期的溫暖氣候促使生物演化出較大體型，並讓食草性爬蟲類動物能夠成功與哺乳動物競爭，」主持這項分析的內布拉斯加州大學林肯分校學者海德說。
The palaeontologists have named the long-extinct species Barbaturex morrisoni. "Barbaturex" means "bearded king," after the team found ridges on the underside of the jaw that give lizards a beard-like appearance. "Morrisoni" is in tribute to Doors frontman Morrison, famed for his fascination with reptiles and shamanism.
古生物學家把這種早已絕種的物種命名為Barbaturex morrisoni。Barbaturex意指「鬍鬚王」，因為研究團隊在這種蜥蜴的下顎底下發現脊狀突起，使其看起來像是留了鬍子。Morrisoni則是向搖滾樂團「門」的主唱莫里森致敬，莫里森生前以對爬蟲類動物與薩滿教著迷聞名。
"I was listening to The Doors quite a bit during research," said Head. "Some of their musical imagery includes reptiles and ancient places, and Jim Morrison was of course the Lizard King, so it kind of came together."
「我在研究期間常常聽『門』的歌，」海德說。「他們的部分音樂意象包括了爬蟲類動物和古代地點，而莫里森當然又是眾所周知的蜥蜴王，所以配合得剛剛好。」
新聞辭典
tip the scales at：指重達…，例句：The phone tips the scales at only 150g.（這支電話重量只有150公克。）
fauna：名詞，生物學用語，指某地區、某時代或環境的動物群，例句：He is studying the diverse fauna of the island.（他正研究這座島上多樣的動物群。）
come together：片語，指按照希望的方式開始工作或進行，例句：The project started slowly, but everything is finally starting to come together now.（這項計畫起步很慢，但現在一切終於都開始步上軌道。）
資料來源 http://iservice.libertytimes.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=694520&day=2013-07-07
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