Beelzebufo: Difference between revisions
It's the Evans paper I put in the article instead of the NatGeo source, titled "Big, bad and bizarre: New material of Beelzebufo, a new hyperossified anuran from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar, yields further surprises". Here's the link of the paper: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0087236 |
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== Description == |
== Description == |
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[[File:Beelzebufo.png|upright|thumb|left|Three-dimensional digital reconstruction]] |
[[File:Beelzebufo.png|upright|thumb|left|Three-dimensional digital reconstruction]] |
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The species may have grown to {{convert|23.2|cm|in|1|abbr=on}}.<ref name=Evans/> The head was big,<ref name=Evans> |
The species may have grown to {{convert|23.2|cm|in|1|abbr=on}}.<ref name=Evans/> The head was big,<ref name=Evans>{{Cite journal |
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| author = Evans S, Groenke J, Jones M, Turner A, Krause D |
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| title = New Material of Beelzebufo, a Hyperossified Frog (Amphibia: Anura) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar |
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| doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0087236 |
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| journal = PLOS ONE |
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| year = 2014 |
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| pmid = 24489877 |
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| pmc = 3905036 |
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}}</ref> and bones of the [[skull roof]] show a rugous external surface, indicating at least parts of the head may have borne bony scales, called [[scute]]s. |
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The skull sutures are open in even the biggest species of ''Beelzebufo'', showing that it may have grown even bigger.<ref name="evansetal2008"/> |
The skull sutures are open in even the biggest species of ''Beelzebufo'', showing that it may have grown even bigger.<ref name="evansetal2008"/> |
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Revision as of 21:20, 10 March 2018
| Beelzebufo Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
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|---|---|
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| Life restoration of a B. ampinga eating a theropod | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Suborder: | Neobatrachia |
| Genus: | †Beelzebufo Evans, Jones, & Krause, 2008 |
| Type species | |
| †Beelzebufo ampinga Evans, Jones, & Krause, 2008
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| Species | |
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†B. ampinga Evans, Jones, & Krause, 2008 | |
Beelzebufo ampinga (/biːˌɛlzɪˈbjuːfoʊ æmˈpɪŋɡə/ or /ˌbiːlzəˈbjuːfoʊ/) was a particularly large species of prehistoric frog described in 2008. Common names assigned by the popular media include devil frog,[1] devil toad,[2] and the frog from hell.[3]
Fossils of Beelzebufo have been recovered from strata of the Maevarano Formation in Madagascar, dating to the late Cretaceous period, some 70 million years ago (Mya).[4]
Etymology
The generic name Beelzebufo is a portmanteau of Beelzebub (a Semitic deity whose name may be translated as "Lord of the Flies", sometimes identified either as one of the chief lieutenants, or alter ego of the Christian Devil) and bufo (Latin for "toad").
The specific name ampinga means "shield" in Malagasy.
Description
The species may have grown to 23.2 cm (9.1 in).[5] The head was big,[5] and bones of the skull roof show a rugous external surface, indicating at least parts of the head may have borne bony scales, called scutes.
The skull sutures are open in even the biggest species of Beelzebufo, showing that it may have grown even bigger.[4]
Biogeography
Although the fossils of Beelzebufo appear in what is now Madagascar, which, still attached to India, had split from the coast of Somalia in the earliest stage of the late Jurassic,[6] it superficially resembles its closest living relatives, the horned toads of South America, of which the largest today grow to 15 cm (5.9 in) long.
As West Gondwana (South America) rifted away from East Gondwana, opening from the north and spreading southward, open marine conditions in the widening South Atlantic obtained by about 110 Mya, isolating the amphibians on either side; the last common ancestor of Beelzebufo and the South American Ceratophryidae is most likely to have existed before that date and probably before seafloor-spreading demonstrates the earlier isolation of Madagascar-India, a very long time undocumented by fossils.[7]
Alternatively, the history of archaeogeography could be rewritten: Richard Lane, program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences, said, "The occurrence of this frog in Madagascar and its relatives' existence in South America provides strong evidence that the supercontinent Gondwana 'disassembled' during the latest part of the Cretaceous."[1]
Lifestyle
In comparison with the living Ceratophryidae, Beelzebufo most likely was a predator whose expansive mouth allowed it to eat relatively large prey, perhaps even juvenile dinosaurs.[8] Bite force measurements from a growth series of Cranwell's horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli), suggest that the bite force of a large Beelzebufo (skull width 15.4 cm) may have been between 500 and 2200 N [9]
Discovery
The first fossil fragments were found in 1993 by David W. Krause of New York's Stony Brook University, but it took 14 years for scientists Susan E. Evans, Marc E. H. Jones, and Krause to assemble enough data for publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the journal of the United States National Academy of Sciences.
Some 75 fossil fragments have been found. Researchers have been able to reconstruct parts of the frog's skeleton, including nearly the entire skull.
See also
References
- ^ a b Dybas, Cheryl (2008-02-18). "Scientists Discover 'Giant Fossil Frog from Hell'". Press Release 08-025. National Science Foundation. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Scientists find 'Devil Toad' fossil". Associated Press. 2008-02-18. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
- ^ Hooper, Rowan (2008-02-18). "Giant prehistoric frog hints at ancient land link". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Evans, Susan E.; Jones, Marc E. H.; David W. Krause (2008). "A giant frog with South American affinities from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105 (8): 2951–2956. doi:10.1073/pnas.0707599105. PMC 2268566. PMID 18287076.
- ^ a b Evans S, Groenke J, Jones M, Turner A, Krause D (2014). "New Material of Beelzebufo, a Hyperossified Frog (Amphibia: Anura) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar". PLOS ONE. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0087236. PMC 3905036. PMID 24489877.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ Lawrence A. Lawver, Lisa M. Gahagan and Ian w.D. Dalziel, "A tight-fit early Mesozoic Gondwana: a plate reconstruction perspective", 1999, p. 5 "Africa-Madagascar", with citations (on-line text).
- ^ Frogs of Gondwana are only very spottily represented in fossils.
- ^ "'Frog from hell' fossil unearthed". BBC News. 2008-02-18. Archived from the original on 21 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Lappin, A. Kristopher; Wilcox, S.C.; Moriarty, D. J.; Stoeppler, Stephanie A. R.; Evans, Susan E.,; Jones, Marc E. H. (2017). "Bite force in the horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli) with implications for extinct giant frogs". Scientific Reports. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-11968-6.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)