'Clockwork Orange' frog species named after Stanley Kubrick

(Representational image)

Washington: Scientists have discovered a new frog species with orange blotches on its limbs, and named it after American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, who is known for directing the dystopian crime film 'A Clockwork Orange'.

Researchers also discovered a species named kamagarini, which means 'demon' or 'devil' in Matsigenka - a language spoken in southeastern Peru.

One of the characteristic features of the new species D kamagarini are its horn-like protuberances on the upper eyelids.

Both the treefrog species were discovered in the Amazon Basin of Peru and Brazil, and had been previously misidentified as another superficially identical species.

Having conducted analyses of genetic, morphologic, and bioacoustic data, scientists from the Catholic University (PUCE) in Ecuador and Centro de Ornitologia y Biodiversidad (CORBIDI) in Peru concluded that the amphibians represented two previously unknown species.

Stanley Kubrick left an immemorial legacy in cinema, researchers said. His masterpiece, A Clockwork Orange (1971), was based on Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name.

According to the researchers, when Anthony Burgess explained the title of his famous novel A Clockwork Orange, he said: "I've implied the junction of the organic, the lively, the sweet - in other words, life, the orange - and the mechanical, the cold, the disciplined."

"Without knowing, he was also giving a good metaphor to describe ecosystems," researchers said.

"Nature works as the interplay between life and its cold, mechanical, and disciplined physical matrix," they said.

Both the new frogs, scientifically listed as D kubricki and D kamagarini, are characterised by a bright orange blotch on the shanks, reminiscent of the 'orange pieces of nature'.

Amphibians are important pieces in ecosystems as secondary consumers in food chains. They also play a significant role in decomposition and nutrient cycling.