Seven newly named frog species make whistles that sound like Star Trek

Deep in the forests of Madagascar, researchers have discovered seven new species of frogs and named them after characters from Star Trek.

“The calls of the frogs remind us strongly of iconic futuristic sound effects from the franchise,” says Mark D. Scherz at the Natural History Museum of Denmark.

Boophis marojezensis is a small, brownish frog found in Madagascar’s humid forests. It was first described in 1994, but, over time, researchers started to wonder whether this puppy-eyed amphibian was actually more than one species.

To find out, Scherz and his colleagues gathered as much data as possible from different individuals of B. marojezensis collected over three decades. They recorded and analysed the frogs’ calls, compared their physical characteristics and sequenced their DNA.

Their results showed that what was previously thought to be only one frog species is actually eight different ones. Physically, they look almost identical, says Scherz. “The key differences are in the sounds that they make. Their ear-splitting, high-pitched, whistling calls differ both in pitch and in timing of the whistles.” The DNA sequencing also showed genetic differences, confirming they are different species.

Male frogs use their bird-like calls to attract females, and as these newly named species live close to streams, Scherz thinks they evolved their high-pitched whistles to help their songs stand out from the din of flowing water. However, much about these frogs’ lives remains a mystery.

One of the species is named Boophis kirki, in honour of James T. Kirk. The others are named after Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Kathryn Janeway, Jonathan Archer, Michael Burnham and Christopher Pike.

“We wanted to honour the captains that lead their teams on missions of exploration and discovery,” says Scherz. “It may serve also as a reminder of how much discovery there still is to do here on Earth, before we turn our eyes to the stars.”