Boophis marojezensis. Now know to be 8 different species.
An international research team have discovered seven new species of tree frog in Madagascar, all members of the Boophis genus, previously thought to be a single species. They are characterized by their distinctive sounds. Their high-pitched whistles are unlike the sounds normally associated with frogs and sounding more like something from science fiction prompted their discoverers to give them all names based on Star Trek captains: Boophis archeri (Archer), Boophis burnhamae (Burnham), Boophis janewayae (Janeway), Boophis kirki (Kirk), Boophis picardi (Picard), Boophis pikei (Pike), Boophis siskoi (Sisko).
The basis for the revised taxonomy is two-fold - genetic and bioacoustic. Although there are all morphologically similar, differing mainly in size, the genetic evidence shows they have diverged into genetically isolated populations and the acoustic evidence shows how genetic separation is maintained by a prezygotic barrier to hybridization. The high pitch of their calls is believed to make them audible above the sound of running water in their normal environment.
Boophis burnhamae
Photo by M.D. Scherz, CC BY-SA 4.0
Boophis janewayae
Photo by M. Vences, CC BY-SA 4.0
Boophis pikei
Photo by M.D. Scherz, CC BY-SA 4.0
Boophis kirki
Photo by C. Hutter, CC BY-SA 4.0
Boophis siskoi
Photo by M.D. Scherz, CC BY-SA 4.0
Boophis archeri
Photo by M.D. Scherz, CC BY-SA 4.0
Boophis picardi
Photo by M. Vences & F. Glaw, CC BY-SA 4.0
Boophis marojezensis
Photo by M. Vences & F. Glaw, CC BY-SA 4.0
Boophis kirki
Boophis picardi
Boophis pikei
Boophis pikei
Seven New Frog Species Discovered in Madagascar: Sounds Like Something from Star Trek
An international team of researchers have discovered seven new species of tree frogs that make otherworldly calls in the rainforests of Madagascar. Their strange, high-pitched whistling calls sound more like sound effects from the sci-fi series Star Trek. As a result, the researchers have named the new species after seven of the series' most iconic captains.
If you think all frogs croak, you’d be wrong. Seven newly discovered species from the tree frog genus Boophis, found across the rainforests of Madagascar, emit special bird-like whistling sounds in their communication with other frogs.
These whistling sounds reminded the research team, led by Professor Miguel Vences of the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany, of Star Trek, where similar whistle-like sound effects are frequently used.
The sound of the new frog species Boophis Kirki:
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.
Professor Miguel Vences, corresponding author
Technische Universität Braunschweig
Braunschweig, Germany.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! 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. There’s a real sense of scientific discovery and exploration here, which we think is in the spirit of Star Trek.
Assistant Professor Mark D. Scherz, senior author
Natural History Museum of Denmark
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
AbstractThese frogs have speciated sympatrically with few morphologically distinguishing features, but their genomes show evidence of diversification and genetic isolation, maintained by species-specific calls which have provides a sufficient barrier to hybridization to prevent gene flow between the different species, so producign genetically-isolated populations and eight different genepools in which evolution operates.
The Malagasy stream-breeding treefrog species Boophis marojezensis contains bioacoustically and genetically highly divergent populations. Some of these populations have been defined as candidate species and emit somewhat bizarre advertisement calls consisting of multiple whistle-notes. We here enable a long-overdue taxonomic revision of this species complex by applying a museomics approach to sequence DNA from the holotype of B. marojezensis. Based on an integrative approach that combines divergence levels in mitochondrial DNA and in three nuclear-encoded genes, morphological data, and bioacoustic comparisons, we conclude that eight different species exist in this complex, seven of which are formally described herein as new. Although morphological differences between species are small and mainly separate small-sized from larger-sized species, conclusive evidence for the new species comes from their sympatric and sometimes syntopic occurrence without haplotype sharing in three nuclear genes and under maintenance of bioacoustic differences. Uncorrected genetic divergences in the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene are >3% in almost all cases, and in some cases up to 8%. In reference to the otherworldly sounds by which these frogs fill Malagasy rainforests, some of them reminiscent of sounds of technical equipment in the fictional “Star Trek” universe, we here name and describe the seven new species in honor of fictional captains of starships, namely B. kirki sp. nov., B. picardi sp. nov., B. siskoi sp. nov., B. janewayae sp. nov., B. archeri sp. nov., B. pikei sp. nov., and B. burnhamae sp. nov. The majority of these species occur in northern Madagascar, where up to three species can occur in immediate geographical proximity, e.g., B. marojezensis, B. burnhamae sp. nov. and B. pikei sp. nov. at different elevations in the Marojejy Massif. South of 16°S latitude, only B. janewayae sp. nov., B. picardi sp. nov., and B. kirki sp. nov. are found, with the latter extending southwards to Ranomafana National Park. Our study confirms the existence of numerous morphologically cryptic and microendemic species among Madagascar’s amphibians, some of which are known only from unprotected sites and require adequate conservation management.
Introduction
With 80 currently described species (AmphibiaWeb 2023), Boophis Tschudi, 1838 is the most speciose genus in the Malagasy-Comoran-endemic anuran family Mantellidae (Glaw and Vences 2006, 2007; Hutter et al. 2022). Boophis are treefrogs of relatively generalized reproductive behavior, typically laying their eggs into the water of streams or ponds where their exotrophic tadpoles develop (Blommers-Schlösser 1979b; Blommers-Schlösser and Blanc 1991; Hutter et al. 2022). Most Boophis species are stream breeding (Vences et al. 2002), partly with tadpoles that are morphologically adapted to lotic habitats (Blommers-Schlösser 1979b; Raharivololoniaina et al. 2006.1; Randrianiaina et al. 2009a, 2009.1b, 2012; Rasolonjatovo Hiobiarilanto et al. 2010; Grosjean et al. 2011). Many Boophis species are very vocal, their males emit loud and distinct advertisement calls that have proven useful both for monitoring and taxonomic purposes (Vences et al. 2008; Hutter et al. 2022). While closely related species of Boophis are often morphologically highly cryptic, they typically differ strongly in advertisement call parameters, especially when occurring in syntopy (e.g., Glaw and Thiesmeier 1993; Andreone et al. 2005; Glaw et al. 2001, 2010.1, 2021; Glaw and Vences 2002.1; Vences and Glaw 2002.2; Vences et al. 2012.1).
Morphological and ecological characters, and especially molecular phylogenetic studies, have revealed several well-supported clades that are defined as species groups within Boophis (Blommers-Schlösser 1979b; Blommers-Schlösser and Blanc 1993.1; Glaw and Vences 2006; Hutter et al. 2018). Of these, the Boophis blommersae group currently contains three nominal species: B. blommersae Glaw & Vences, 1994, B. marojezensis Glaw & Vences, 1994, and B. vittatus Glaw, Vences, Andreone & Vallan, 2001, plus seven candidate species phylogenetically related to B. marojezensis, but genetically highly distinct (Hutter et al. 2018). Boophis marojezensis and these candidate species (B. sp. Ca25, B. sp. Ca26, B. sp. Ca51, B. sp. Ca52, B. sp. Ca53, B. sp. Ca55, B. sp. Ca68; named after the scheme of Vieites et al. 2009.2 as refined by Perl et al. 2014) will hereafter be called the “B. marojezensis complex”, and are the subject of this study.
Boophis marojezensis was assigned by Glaw et al. (2001) to the B. majori species group. Hutter et al. (2018) demonstrated this group to be paraphyletic, and thus erected the B. blommersae species group for a clade containing species with specialized “suctorial” tadpoles adapted to fast-flowing streams (Randrianiaina et al. 2012). The three nominal species in the group are distinct bioacoustically, and in part also morphologically: B. marojezensis has an advertisement call consisting of melodious whistles while B. blommersae emits series of pulsed notes, and B. vittatus a long series of clicks (Glaw et al. 2001). Furthermore, B. vittatus differs from the other two species by the presence of dark dorsolateral bands (Glaw et al. 2001). Already in Glaw et al. (2001), it was suspected that the specimens subsumed under the name B. marojezensis may belong to more than one species, due to substantial differences in calls: in some populations, a series of 3–5 regular whistles were recorded, and in other populations males emit outlandish sounds at high-pitched frequencies up to 6250 Hz, consisting of 21 notes of increasing duration and strong frequency modulation (Glaw et al. 2001; Vences et al. 2006.2; Rosa et al. 2011.1).
In a subsequent analysis of larval morphology, Randrianiaina et al. (2012) provided evidence for the existence of multiple additional candidate species in the B. marojezensis complex, primarily based on divergent DNA barcodes of the tadpoles studied. Their “reverse taxonomy” approach revealed genetic distances in the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene >3% between sets of tadpoles that in some cases occurred in sympatry and were also characterized by distinct differences in color pattern. These genetic differences were also confirmed by a mitochondrial and nuclear multi-gene analysis of Hutter et al. (2018). However, a taxonomic revision of this group remained out of reach because for several of the genetically divergent lineages, only larval specimens but no adults had been collected, and no reliable call recording and no genetic data were available from the B. marojezensis type material. Therefore, the attribution of this nomen to one of the several genetic lineages occurring at its type locality, the Marojejy Massif, remained in need of clarification.
Here, we assembled a comprehensive set of new genetic, bioacoustic and morphological data to revise the taxonomy of the B. marojezensis complex. Based on extensive new collections, we compare the morphology and advertisement calls of adults of all genetic lineages, map their distribution, and assess their evolutionary independence by comparing differentiation in one mitochondrial and three nuclear-encoded markers. Furthermore, we obtained a DNA sequence of the holotype of B. marojezensis, thus allowing us to unambiguously clarify the identity of this nomen. Our combined datasets provide strong evidence for the existence of seven new species in the complex which, due to their truly alien-sounding advertisement calls, are herein named after prominent characters in the fictional “Star Trek” universe. With this, we primarily aim to honor the focus on inspiring – even if not always accurate – science and nature conservation prevalent in numerous Star Trek episodes (e.g., Andreadis 1999; Jenkins and Jenkins 1999.1; Noor 2018.1), and the spirit of discovery and scientific exploration that it fosters. It seems also fitting that finding these frogs sometimes requires considerable trekking; pursuing strange new calls, to seek out new frogs in new forests; boldly going where no herpetologist has gone before.
Creationists continually demand evidence of 'macro-evolution' in the form of new structures while having a flexible definition of 'macro-evolution' which changes according to the needs of the anti-evolution argument being employed. They also use a flexible definition of 'kind' which can mean anything from a species to a kingdom or which ever taxon suits the argument. For example, these eight from species will undoubtedly be called 'frog kind' and so dismissed as evidence of evolution.
By contrast, these eight different species of Madagascan tree frog meet all the scientific criteria for different species.
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