“Thanksss.”

You ever wonder why the planets and constellations are named after famous mythological characters? Simple: because scientists are nerds (which I say in a loving manner, of course, because I am one as well). Since the notion of discovering new things was invented, scientists have always named things after characters and concepts from their favorite fiction. There’s a genus of sea sponge named after SpongeBob Squarepants. In keeping with that tradition, when a team of researchers discovered a new species of green pit viper in India, they decided to give it the most snake-like name they could think of: Slytherin.

Yes, that’s right; the new snake was named in honor of Salazar Slytherin, founder of the Slytherin House of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This is all from the Harry Potter series, in case you’ve been living under a rock. In addition to being cunning and slippery like a snake, Salazar possessed the ability to speak parseltongue, the language of serpents. And so, the new green pit viper was named Trimeresurus Salazar, in honor of the sly serpent-speaking scholar. If you can’t remember that name, the research team suggests calling it “Salazar’s pit viper.”

Trimeresurus pit vipers are commonly found in east and southeast Asia, with a total of 48 different species currently identified in the region. The differentiating factor in Salazar is the orange stripe present on the side of the males’ heads. Don’t get any bright ideas about keeping one as a pet, though; pit vipers are incredibly venomous. Now if we could just find a badger, a raven, and a gryffin to name after Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Godric Gryffindor. Though, that last one might be a bit tough…