WYATT EARP, DE HERÓI DO FAROESTE NORTE-AMERICANO A NOME DE FORMAÇÃO DEVONIANA NO TERRITÓRIO ANTÁRTICO

Wyatt Earp, from Hero of the American Western to the Name of Devonian Formation in Antarctic Territory.In science, it is common to name new taxa, geographic points or stratigraphic units with the names of important researchers, pioneer explorers or simply people important to the author who is describing these novelties. This paper presents a curious case of an Antarctic Devonian formation whose name is a tribute to Wyatt Earp, an illustrious character from the American Western. The story began with the American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth, who was a fan of Wyatt Earp and named one of the boats used by him during his expedition to Antarctica after his hero. Later, the name of the boat served as an inspiration to baptize a mount in Antarctica and its name served as a reference to name the Devonian age formation that outcrops in the region of that mount. Wyatt Earp died about four years before Ellworth’s explorations to Antarctica began, and he certainly never imagined that he would become immortalized with the name of a geographic point and a stratigraphic unit as far away as the South Pole. The nomenclature of novelties in the natural sciences encompasses several possibilities and reasons. Keywords: Nomenclature, Mount Wyatt Earp Formation, West Antarctica.