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Scientists Find 'Devil Toad' Fossil

Posted by samzenpus on from the flies-beware dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A new type of frog the size of a bowling ball, with heavy armor and teeth, that lived among dinosaurs millions of years ago has been discovered. It was intimidating enough that scientists who unearthed its fossils dubbed the beast Beelzebufo, or Devil Toad."

12 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Does this mean... by aurb · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... that robot devil and the hipno toad have the same ancestor?

  2. Etymological considerations... by wattrlz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wouldn't " beelzebufo" mean, " Lord of the Toads" in some unholy fusion of greek and latin? Personally I think that's a cooler name anyway.

    1. Re:Etymological considerations... by ArieKremen · · Score: 2, Informative

      while "ze" means "this" in Hebrew, the word "zebub" is wrongly transcribed from "zevuv", which means "fly", and is supported by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beelzebub.

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  3. Re:I for one... by MindKata · · Score: 2, Informative

    "I for one etc..."

    Don't worry, its dead ... as in an Ex-Toad ... he's not restin', so you can't wake him up ... This Toad is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e' rests in peace! If they hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'history! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-TOAD!!

    ... I thought this would be better than saying something about "I for one" etc.. ;)

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  4. Staggering lack of any real info by Silver+Sloth · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I've done a quick Google search and none of the sites have anything more than the rather superficial msnbc link. Even the UCL page doesn't really give much. What it breaks down to is
    • Fosil frog found in Madagascar
    • It's big - about the size of a bowling ball and estimated at 10lb - or around 5Kg for scientists
    • It's not like modern Madagascan frogs but more like South American ones which raises issues about lineage and land masses at the relevant (non specified - and why not - millions of years ago isn't very precise) era
    I guess they're saving the real info up for the PNAS paper.
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  5. Re:I for one... by kie · · Score: 2, Funny

    you mean the toad croaked!

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  6. More info by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 2, Funny

    Another picture.

    Apparently they sounded like Brian Blessed.

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  7. Re:I for one... by PitViper401 · · Score: 2, Funny

    You sir, are a froggin' genius.

  8. Guess it wasn't tagged 'notthebest'? by Xenographic · · Score: 3, Informative
    Why'd they approve this submission, instead of the one with all the details I read in the Firehose yesterday?

    Paleontologist David Krause and his team have discovered the remains of a 'Devil Toad' that was 4.5 kg (10 lbs) in weight and 41 cm (16 in) long. The bones of 'Beelzebufo' -- a combination of the Greek word for devil and the Latin word for toad -- were found in Madagascar and dated to the late Cretaceous period, about 70 million years ago. This is puzzling because Beelzebufo is actually a relative of South American horned frogs (Ceratophrys), rather than the Golaith frogs of West Africa which are almost as big as it. They take this as evidence that Madagascar was still linked to South America via a land bridge in the late Cretaceous, not fully separated as had been thought and speculate that the two might have been linked by a then-warmer Antarctica.
  9. In soviet Russia... by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 2, Funny

    Toad licks YOU!

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  10. Re:I for one... by somersault · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well.. just to be on the safe side, I for one welcome our new zombie demon toad overlords

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    which is totally what she said
  11. Not a toad by PCM2 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Based on the article, this is not a toad at all, but a frog. It seems to be only the writer at Scientific American who considers this a toad.

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