Scientists in Madagascar recently discovered the remains of a giant prehistoric frog, a relative of today's horned toads, which blew away the previous record for the largest known frog, Bennicus Bleimanicus. Dubbed Beelzebufo, meaning "frog from hell," the Devil Frog had important differences from today's frogs. To begin with, it was freakin huge. Susan Evans, a researcher from the University College of London, explained that if it was anything like its closest living forebears, "it would have been quite mean." Considering the fact that it was "the size of a slightly squashed beach-ball, with short legs and a big mouth," it was probably a formidable predator for its time. Explained David Krause, a researcher from Stony Brook University in NY, "It's not outside the realm of possibility that Beelzebufo took down lizards and mammals and smaller frogs, and even -- considering its size -- possibly hatchling dinosaurs."
The Devil Frog was a land dwelling amphibian that probably spent most of its time laying in wait, trying to convince itself it really was just "big boned."
more below the fold...
In addition to its outstanding size and premeditatedly sensationalistic name, the Devil Frog is also notable for lending weight to a controversial theory of plate tectonics. Because its closest living kin, nicknamed the Pac-Man frog for its enormous mouth, lives in South America, it suggests that Madagascar and South America were once linked via a long lost land bridge from Madagascar to Antarctica. Blasphemy! Penguins and lemurs living side-by-side in harmony? Sounds like a Pixar pipedream.
Special thanks to NK and Liz Carter for bringing this to our attention.
Life Science
Comments
Do you know what its full latin name is?
Posted by: Homie Bear | February 20, 2008 12:44 AM
Ha ha I just got your joke about the previous biggest frog.
Posted by: Homie Bear | February 20, 2008 12:46 AM
If it barked, it'd totally be the frog from Jedi that Jabba keeps in his palace.
Posted by: Jenbug | February 20, 2008 9:15 AM
Hahahahahahaha. Oh my god, Andrew, you are so funny! I was a fat kid, so you combined my name with some Latin suffixes to make the big frog's name. Hahahahahahaha. Oh my god, my sides are hurting. I'm laughing so hard. What a great day this has been! You're dead. You're all dead! Hahahahahahaha. Seriously, I'm going to kill you later. Hahahahahaha.
Posted by: Benny | February 20, 2008 11:49 AM
LOL, nice dig at your brother there, and it's not even April Fools. :-p I assume the rest of the story is on the up-n-up though?
Posted by: Arachnophile | February 27, 2008 3:46 PM