Scientists have discovered seven new species of tree frogs in the lush rainforests of Madagascar. These small amphibians make strange, high-pitched whistling sounds that sound a bit like the sound effects from Star Trek. The new species are named after seven of the sci-fi series’ captains and are described in a study published October 15 in the journal Vertebrate Zoology.
To boldly go where no frog–or scientist–has gone before
The seven newly discovered species are from the genus Boophis. They are found across Madagascar and communicate with other frogs with their whistling sounds. When the research team heard the calls, they immediately reminded them of the sound effects used across the various Star Trek series.
VIDEO: This frog is named Boophis siskoi after Captain Benjamin Sisko from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The otherworldly calls of these frogs are known as advertisement calls—a type of self-promotion that, according to the researchers, may convey information about the male frog’s suitability as a mate to females. This particular group lives along fast-flowing streams in the most mountainous regions of Madagascar—a loud background that may explain why the frogs call at such high pitches. CREDIT: Mark D. Sherz
“That’s why we named the frogs after Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer, Burnham, and Pike—seven of the most iconic captains from the sci-fi series,” Miguel Vences, a study co-author and evolutionary biologist at Technische Universität Braunschweig in Germany, said in a statement.
The names Boophis kirki, Boophis picardi, Boophis siskoi, Boophis janewayae, Boophis archeri, Boophis pikei, and Boophis burnhamae are also fitting due to the amount of trekking through the rainforest that the team needed to do in order to find the frogs.
“A few species are found in places accessible to tourists, but to find several of these species, we had to undertake major expeditions to remote forest fragments and mountain peaks,” Mark D. Scherz, a study co-author and a curator at the Natural History Museum of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen, said in a statement. “There’s a real sense of scientific discovery and exploration here, which we think is in the spirit of Star Trek.”
The call of the wild
The noises these frogs make are known as advertisement calls. They’re a type of self-promotion that may highlight a male frog’s suitability as a mate to females. This particular group of frogs lives along fast-flowing streams in Madagascar’s most mountain regions, so the background noise may explain why the frogs call at such a high pitch to be heard over the roaring water and organisms in the mountain.
Some of the frog calls might remind Star Trek fans of sounds from the “boatswain whistle” and a device called the “tricorder.” To non-Trekkies, it may sound like an insect or bird.
[Related: Humans can’t hear these frogs screaming.]
“If the frogs just croaked like our familiar European frogs, they might not be audible over the sound of rushing water from the rivers they live near. Their high-pitched trills and whistles stand out against all that noise,” Jörn Köhler, a study co-author and Senior Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt in Germany, said in a statement. “The appearance of the frogs has led to them being confused with similar species until now, but each species makes a distinctive series of these high-pitched whistles that has allowed us to tell them apart from each other, and from other frogs.”
‘We’ve only scratched the surface of what Madagascar’s rainforests have to offer’
Madagascar is renowned for its incredible biodiversity and hidden species are still being uncovered. While the island is almost the size of Texas, is home to about 9 percent of all the world’s frog species.
[Related: If Madagascar’s animals disappear, it’ll take 23 million years to get them back.]
“We’ve only scratched the surface of what Madagascar’s rainforests have to offer. Every time we go into the forest, we find new species, and just in terms of frogs, there are still several hundred species we haven’t yet described,” Andolalao Rakotoarison, a study co-author and herpetologist at the Université d’Itasy in Madagascar, said in the statement.
The team hopes that these continued discoveries will help strengthen conservation efforts in Madagascar. These frog species often live in close proximity to one another, but at different microhabitats and altitudes. This division makes them particularly vulnerable to climate and environmental changes.
