University researchers announced the discovery of fossils containing multiple species of ancient crab and shrimp in Lowndes County Alabama last Thursday. One of the crab species discovered was named “costacopluma nicksabani,” after former Alabama head football coach Nick Saban.
Adiel Klompmaker, a curator of paleontology for the University’s Department of Museum Research and Collections, led the research team that published a study to Geodiversitas Sept. 22 on crustacean fossils discovered.
“I like working with students in a lab on a variety of curation projects and research projects as well,” Klompmaker said. “So there are a lot of different things that keep me quite busy, and every day can be very different from one another.”
Klompmaker said the project began when George Martin, a research associate at UA Museums and collaborator on the project, began collecting “lots of crustaceans” at the site, saying that Martin collected all of the crabs mentioned in the paper..
“I started here about six years ago, here in Alabama, and learned from George about his site,” he said
Klompmaker said he was “to blame” for naming the crab after Saban.
“I decided, let’s name it after a very famous person here to give him some extra honor, because he deserves it,” he said.
He added that there were “many things” that were admirable about Saban, such as his success as the University’s football coach and his educational foundations.
“It’s quite amazing what he always achieves for Alabama and for the University,” he said. “So, that’s why we decided to honor him this way.”
