ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- What may have been the world's largest frog ever -- dubbed the "devil frog" -- weighed up to 10 pounds when it hopped around Madagascar millions of years ago.
Researchers led by Stony Brook University paleontologist David Krause unearthed the amphibian's remains on the African island nation and estimated it lived 65 million to 70 million years ago. And yet, they found evidence linking the frog, whose scientific name is Beelzebufo, to frogs living in South America today, the National Science Foundation said in news release Monday.
"Beelzebufo appears to be a very close relative of a group of South American frogs known as 'ceratophyrines,' or 'pac-man' frogs, because of their immense mouths," said Krause, whose research was funded by the foundation.
"We're asking ourselves, 'What's a 'South American' frog doing half-way around the world, in Madagascar?'"
One possibility, the researchers suggest, is there was a land connection between South America and Madagascar during that period.
The researchers, who also call their find the "armored frog from hell," reported their work in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
