'Frog from hell' fossil unearthed

[Atomic_Piggy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7251666.stm

'Frog from hell' fossil unearthed

A 70-million-year-old fossil of a giant frog has been unearthed in Madagascar by a team of UK and US scientists.

The creature would have been the size of a "squashed beach ball" and weighed about 4kg (9lb), the researchers said.

They added that the fossil, nicknamed Beelzebufo or "frog from hell", was "strikingly different" from present-day frogs found on the island nation.

Details of the discovery are reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The team from University College London (UCL) and Stony Brook University, New York, said the frog would have had a body length of about 40cm (16 inches), and was among the largest of its kind to be found.

"This frog, a relative of today's horned toads, would have been the size of a slightly squashed beach-ball, with short legs and a big mouth," explained co-author Susan Evans, from UCL's Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.

"If it shared the aggressive temperament and 'sit-and-wait' ambush tactics of [present-day] horned toads, it would have been a formidable predator on small animals.

"Its diet would most likely have consisted of insects and small vertebrates like lizards, but it's not impossible that Beelzebufo might even have munched on hatchling or juvenile dinosaurs."

The researchers added that the discovery of the fossil supported the theory that Madagascar and the Indian and South American land masses could have been linked until the Late Cretaceous Period (75-65 million years ago).

"Our discovery of a frog strikingly different from today's Madagascan frogs, and akin to the horned toads previously considered endemic to South America, lends weight to the controversial model," Professor Evans explained.

 

[Phobie]

Wow, that's a big frog. It's a bit unfair to call it the "frog from hell" though. Harsh.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Wow, that's a big frog. It's a bit unfair to call it the "frog from hell" though. Harsh.

Have you been to Madagascar?





Cause... I haven't.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

I have. There's like...lemurs and shit there. And the beaches? Crabs and shit. Maybe even Land Sharks. The surrounding oceans? Godzilla or some shit probably.


The skies?




We got God damn Rodan and King Ghidorah ****ing the lemur's shit up that ain't cool.

 

[Sam]

I could take it.

 

[SimonomiS]

Beelzebufo is an awesome nickname.

 

[Eejit]

The skies?




We got God damn Rodan and King Ghidorah ****ing the lemur's shit up that ain't cool.

Mothra too.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Mothra too.

Mo-GOD DAMN MOTHRA? When did she get there? I bet that son of a bitch invited Varan and Anguirus too didn't she? DIDN'T SHE?!


Don't make me call Jet Jaguar and Gamera to the party. They'll break things up in no time. :frown:

 

[Acepilotf14]

:|
wut

 

[Cavalry]

My guns could take it.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Holy shit. I want to eat it with chips.

 

[<RJMC>]

is not that big

I imaginated like a giant frog eating fighter planes like flyes and hoping over the buidlings destroying them

 

[Raziaar]

is not that big

I imaginated like a giant frog eating fighter planes like flyes and hoping over the buidlings destroying them

Largest animal that ever existed lives with us today. The Blue Whale.

So... everything you'll ever encounter is going to be at least smaller than a Blue Whale.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

RJMC's idea trumps reality, though. It'll be like Cloverfield, but with more eating.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[kupocake]

The french knew this all along of course. They hunted them to extinction.

/casual racism.

 

[Druckles]

And more tongue, right?

And if a Blue Whale is 12 foot...

Geez, imagine a giant frog!

Think of all the innuendos...!!