'Frog From Hell' Fossil Turns up in Madagascar

'Beelzebufo' munched on baby dinosaurs
By Zach Samalin,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 19, 2008 3:15 AM CST
'Frog From Hell' Fossil Turns up in Madagascar
This undated handout artist rendering provided by Dan Klores Communications shows a Beelzebufo ampinga facing off against the largest known living Malagasy frog, Mantydactylus ampinga. A full -length pencil provide size perspective. A frog the size of a bowling ball, with heavy armor and teeth, lived...   (Associated Press)

Fossil hunters digging in Madagascar have discovered a 70 million-year-old, 10 pound ancestor of the horned frog. Over twice as large as its modern-day descendants, the  "slightly squashed beach-ball" shaped creature probably lunched on small lizards and baby dinosaurs, and has earned the charming nicknames "frog from hell" and "Beelzebufo," reports the Daily Telegraph.

Modern horned frogs are natives of South America, and so the discovery lends further  credence to the hotly debated theory that Madagascar, India and South America formed one enormous landmass until the Late Cretaceous period. "It also suggests that the initial spread of such beasts began earlier than recent estimates," one researcher said. (More fossil stories.)

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