Extinct Otter Species Named After Bob Weir

A Deadhead paleontologist has honored Bob Weir by naming an extinct species of otter after the Grateful Dead guitarist. U.S. National Park Service paleontologist Kari Prassack identified the new species from a mislabeled specimen originally found in Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument in Idaho. She named the newly classified species Lontra weiri in honor of Weir.

Prassack, who attended over 100 Dead shows around the country between her first concert at age 15 in 1990 through the band’s final run in 1995, dated the otter fossil at over 3.8 million years old, making it the earliest known ancestor of the modern American river otter genus Lontra. Here’s a bit more on the discovery:

Lontra weiri represents the oldest known member of the otter genus Lontra. There are four species of this genus living today: the North American river otter and three species of South American river otter. The species designation (weiri) is in honor of Grateful Dead guitarist, Bob Weir.

Fossils of Lontra are very uncommon in the fossil record. The oldest previously known fossils came from approximately 1.8 million years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch, and the genus was long thought to have evolved from an Asian Pleistocene otter. This conflicted with more recent genetic studies which place Lontra origins several million years earlier in the Pliocene epoch of North America. What paleontologists needed was to find an older fossil otter to support the genetic data. Hagerman’s new otter is at least 3.8 million years old and supports a Pliocene origin for New World otters …

The newly identified otter fossils (a jaw bone and humerus) are housed at the Idaho Museum of Natural History, in Pocatello. They were collected, but not identified, over two decades ago by the museum, prior to the Hagerman Fossil Beds becoming a national monument. This find emphasizes the importance of preserving our country’s paleontological heritage and ensuring that our paleontological collections are accessible to the scientific community for study and for the public to learn from and enjoy.

“I have been a fan (deadhead) of the Grateful Dead for over 25 years,” Prassack told the Idaho Press-Tribune. “Traveling the country to see them play helped to instill my sense of adventure and gave me the confidence to pursue a career in paleontology. Naming this new species after Bob Weir seemed like a great way to say ‘thank you’, both to the Grateful Dead and to my Grateful Dead tour ‘family’ for being such an important part of my life.”

Weir will head out on tour with Dead & Company featuring fellow Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann along with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti on June 10.