Russian scientists name reptile fossil after Lenin

Russian scientists have named a recently discovered prehistoric reptile fossil after Vladimir Lenin, the hero of Russia's communist revolution.
The fossil ichthyosaur has been named Leninia stellans, Gleb Uspensky, head of the Natural History Museum at Ulyanovsk State University said.
He said the ichthyosaurs were large marine reptiles that are thought to have inhabited the Earth's oceans in the Mesozoic era - a period of time stretching from about 251 million years ago to about 65 million years ago.
Predecessors of today's lizards and snakes, ichthyosaurs are not considered dinosaurs, 'RIA Novosti' reported.
"The name Leninia stellans was agreed collegially. There is nothing strange about the name, many new discoveries are named after famous people," Uspensky said.

Naming fossils after famous people is not unusual, last year a team of US paleontologists named an ancient toothy lizard after President Barack Obama.

"The 'Lenin' part indicates the genus, and the 'stellans' (meaning starry or brilliant) indicates the type species. If we find another ichthyosaur from this genus, then it will be given a different name. 'Lenin Smiling,' for example," Uspensky said.
Lenin was a Russian communist revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He served as the leader of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR) from 1917, and then concurrently as Premier of the Soviet Union from 1922, until his death on January 21, 1924.

According to the Paleobiology Database, the fossil dates from around 125 or 122 million years ago.
Scientists had discovered the incomplete skull near the village of Kriushi in the Sengileevsk region of Ulyanovsk, the report said.
"The skull was over a meter long. Externally the ichthyosaur resembled a modern-day dolphin, and fed on fish and mollusks," Uspensky added.