 Various elves, dwarves, and other creatures that appear in his writings, as well as Tolkien himself, have been honoured in the names of several species, including the amphipod "Leucothoe tolkieni", and the wasp "Shireplitis tolkieni".In 2004, the extinct hominid "Homo floresiensis" was described, and quickly earned the nickname "hobbit" due to its small size.In 1978, paleontologist Leigh Van Valen named over 20 taxa of extinct mammals after Tolkien lore in a single paper.