Researchers at the Natural History Museum of Denmark have named a newly recognized genus of rove beetles Luffy, after the rubber-bodied hero of the manga and anime series "One Piece," citing the insects' unusually elongated mouthparts as the inspiration. The genus and its two new species were described by PhD student Fang-Shuo Hu and entomologist Alexey Solodovnikov in the open-access journal ZooKeys on July 7, 2026, and drew wider attention in early August after ScienceDaily picked up the study.
What sets Luffy apart from related rove beetles, the researchers say, is a set of unusually long mandibles, antennae and maxillary palps — features that, stretched relative to the beetles' small bodies, reminded the team of the way Luffy's cartoon body stretches and reshapes itself. "This genus exhibits a unique combination of characters intermediate between the Eucibdelus lineage and other members of the Ocypus-group," the study notes.
The genus currently holds two species. Luffy schillhammeri, found in broadleaf forests of China's Yunnan province, honors Harald Schillhammer of the Natural History Museum Vienna for his contributions to rove beetle research. Luffy nika, discovered in Louang Namtha in northern Laos, is named for Luffy's strongest transformation in the manga — "Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika" — after researchers noticed the beetle's distinctive white, band-like hairs echoed the smoke-wreathed look of that form.
A crowded family, one more gap filled
Rove beetles, the family Staphylinidae, make up one of the largest animal families on Earth, with tens of thousands of described species and, by most estimates, many more awaiting discovery or formal naming. Naming new taxa after pop-culture figures is a long-running, if minor, tradition in entomology — a way, researchers say, of making obscure new species memorable to non-specialists as well as to the scientists who will study them next.
For now, Luffy's two known species remain known only from the forest specimens that led to their description; researchers say further fieldwork in Southeast Asia and southern China could turn up additional members of the genus.