Researchers Discover Fossils of Bowling-Ball Sized Frog

Researchers have pieced together the fossils of what will now be the world's largest known species of frog. They are unable to determine how the frog was found in West Africa, as its closest relative is a normal-sized frog that resides in South America.

MSNBC reports that researchers in Madagascar have discovered the fossils of what will now be the world's largest species of frog. The enormous frog, determined to have lived with dinosaurs millions of years ago, is the size of a typical bowling ball and had heavy armor and teeth, which is why it has been given the name Beelzebufo, or Devil Toad, by the scientists that discovered it. While the frog's size, 10 pounds and 16 inches long, is strange enough, its close relative (who today lives half a world away in South America) is a regular size frog. Paleontologist David Krause led the discovery that turned up these remains and was quoted saying,

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 these abnormally large frog bones in 1993, but had attributed them to the then largest known frog weighing in at roughly 7 pounds, the Goliath frog, native to West Africa. However, recently Krause's team discovered enough bones to piece together what the frog would have looked like and how large it would have been, removing any possibility of relation to the Goliath frog. The frog fossils were dated back to around 70 million years ago in the Cretaceous period, where Krause was also finding dinosaur and crocodile fossils. The fossil appears to be closely related to South American horned frogs, which are popular as pets and sometimes called the pacman frog due to their large mouths. This new finding has researchers wondering how the frog ended up in West Africa, which could challenge common assumptions about ancient geography.