Ancient frog was as big as a bowling ball

from CNN

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A frog the size of a bowling ball, with heavy armour and teeth, lived among dinosaurs millions of years ago -- intimidating enough that scientists who unearthed its fossils dubbed the beast Beelzebufo, or Devil Toad.



But its size -- 10 pounds and 16 inches long -- isn't the only curiosity. Researchers discovered the creature's bones in Madagascar. Yet it seems to be a close relative of normal-sized frogs who today live half a world away in South America, challenging assumptions about ancient geography.

The discovery, led by paleontologist David Krause at New York's Stony Brook University, was published Monday by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This frog, if it has the same habits as its living relatives in South America, was quite voracious," Krause said. "It's even conceivable that it could have taken down some hatchling dinosaurs."

Krause began finding fragments of abnormally large frog bones in Madagascar, off the coast of Africa, in 1993. They dated back to the late Cretaceous period, roughly 70 million years ago, in an area where Krause also was finding dinosaur and crocodile fossils. But only recently did Krause's team assemble enough frog bones to piece together what the creature would have looked like, and weighed.

The largest living frog, the Goliath frog of West Africa, can reach 7 pounds. But Krause teamed with fossil frog experts from University College London to determine that Beelzebufo isn't related to other African frogs.

It seems to be a relative of South American horned frogs, known scientifically as Ceratophrys. Popular as pets, they're sometimes called pacman frogs for their huge mouths.

Like those modern frogs, Beelzebufo had a wide mouth and powerful jaws, plus teeth. Skull bones were extremely thick, with ridges and grooves characteristic of some type of armor or protective shield.

The name comes from the Greek word for devil, Beelzebub, and Latin for toad, bufo (pronounced boo-foe).

The family link raises a paleontology puzzle: Standard theory for how the continents drifted apart shows what is now Madagascar would have been long separated by ocean from South America during Beelzebufo's time. And frogs can't survive long in saltwater, Krause noted.

He contends the giant frog provides evidence for competing theories that some bridge still connected the land masses that late in time, perhaps via an Antarctica that was much warmer than today.

KICK ASS

FROG POWER

I hate frogs. It took me four years of no-holds-barred battle to finally drive them from my pond.

But I won.

I outsmarted those bastards. Surprised?

RodeoSchro said:

This would make a good Rambo movie.

EWWWW. but that's kinda neat

That frog looks how I feel! I've just had my tea and I'm stuffed!

I want one!!!

frogs legs..

no land bridges, but actual continents next to each other
this animation of an expanding earth is cool

emm said:

what a strange idea, I've never heard that before. But what would be providing all the additional mass for the earth to grow?

NDRU said:

i saw this when someone here posted the link about a year ago.
i guess i imagine that the core of the earth is expanding. people say where did all the water come from then. i would guess most of the world was underwater if this theory is right. there is a longer version of this clip if you look for it.
but i've never taken geology so what do i know

I wish I could have one as a pet.

I think we need to change the title and topic of this thread too, Jamie-boy.

JustErin said:

its amazing what happens when you put 'punch' into a thread title isn't it?

Hi! No need to worry, I'm here now

Reddip....croak

This really wouldn't work for me. No pet of mine should be capable of eating a pizza faster than me.

sj1600 said:

emm said:

when I saw this for the first time, and I was pretty excited about it, it just made so much more sense than anything I heard before

ZombieKitten said:

But I still don't get where the growth would come from. There's no nuclear activity happening like in the center of the sun, and it's not hollow inside.

And if stuff landed on the earth (meteors, etc) from space to make it bigger, then the continents maybe wouldn't look the same as they split apart.

I guess maybe gravity could compress the earth as it comes together for the first time, then the earth would yo yo back & forth like a microcosm big bang/expanding, contracting universe?

Anxiety said:

NDRU said:

if everything was expanding then that would explain it. The moon is a metre further way now than it was in the 60s.

rushing07 said:

co -

jami0mckay said:

co-co-

Imago said:

jami0mckay said:

Imago said:

jami0mckay said:

You know what. I didn't want this
to get personal



but....

so...

Imago said: