Stephen Colbert had a bone to pick with a group of scientists in Brazil who named a new species of spider after a character from J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved series "Lord of the Rings." The host of "The Late Show," who is a huge fan of the series, had some issues with the species being called Iandumoema smeagol, which is a reference to Smeagol, the hobbit who became Gollum after possessing the One Ring.
"They named it Smeagol because it's scary-looking and lives in caves. OK, that's cute. Got two problems with this," Colbert told his audience before he launched into the history of Smeagol.
"You should have named the spider Gollum," said Colbert. "You don't discover a venomous snake and name it Anakin. You name it Darth Vader."
The Smeagol/Gollum debate was not Colbert's only problem with the naming of the spider. He wanted to know why the scientists did not name the species after the character who actually is a spider in "Lord of the Rings."
"You want to name a spider after a 'Lord of the Rings' character?" asked Colbert. "Why not choose the character that's a spider: Shelob — the last offspring of Ungoliant whose poison killed the two trees and who consumes light and vomits darkness — you know, spiders. I thought you guys were scientists."
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