Seven New Frog Species Named After Star Trek Captains

Scientists have identified seven new frog species in Madagascar. The herpetologists who found them happen to be Star Trek fans, so each of the new species are named after characters from the sci-fi show.

“Not only do these frogs sound like sound effects from Star Trek, but it seems also fitting that to find them, you often have to do quite a bit of trekking!,” geeked Mark D. Scherz from the Natural History Museum of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen, senior author on the study that appears in Vertebrate Biology.

The male tree frogs, all in the genus Boophis, emit other-worldly whistling sounds reminiscent of some of the sound effects from the old TV show. The sounds serve as “advertisement calls” — a kind of self-promotion that lets females know they’re available.

“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,” says Miguel Vences of the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany.

The researchers believe the shrill whistling evolved to be heard over the background noises of the Madagascar rainforests, especially the sound of moving water. These particular frogs live along fast-flowing streams in the mountainous region of the island.

Madagascar is home to about 9% of all the world’s frog species. Scherz believes there could be hundreds more reptiles to be discovered.

Photo credit: Mark D. Scherz