A magic-loving team of scientists have taken inspiration from the Harry Potter books when naming a newly discovered species of spider – the sixth the team have identified in two years.

Javed Ahmed and Rajashree Khalap, who discovered the spider while working alongside colleague Sumukha J.N in a sacred grove in southwestern India, are both big fans of the wizarding books and saw the striking resemblance between the arachnid and the Sorting Hat from the series.

Once they had ascertained the spider was a new species, they gave it a name: Eriovixia gryffindori.

In the books, the hat decides which Hogwarts house young wizards will join, sings the school song at the start of each year and helps out Harry in times of need. Each Hogwarts house is named after one of the four founders of the school, with the hat originally belonging to the namesake of Harry Potter’s own house, Godric Gryffindor.