This ancient frog could have preyed on dinosaurs

A large frog that lived 68 million years ago was capable of eating small dinosaurs and had a bite as powerful as a wolf or female tiger, researchers have found.

Scientists studying the bite force of a similar genusthat lives today the horned frog of South America collaborated with a team of paleontologists to determine that the ancient Beelzebufofrogcouldhave preyed on earlycrocodilians and small non-avian dinosaurs.

Their findings have beenreportedin a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

To figure outjust how much power was in that extinct frog's bite, lead author Kristopher Lappin, a professor of biological sciences at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, Calif., examined horned frogssometimes known as Pac-Man frogs for their large, wide mouths and round shape.

Lappin and his teamare interested in how things scale in the animal world, including the peculiar phenomenon behind the power of the bite.

"Other work outthere on rodents, crocodiles has shown that as the animal gets bigger it bites harder than it should be predicted to based on size," saidLappin in an interview with CBC News.

Two of his co-authors on this study, SusanEvans and Mark Jones,had publisheda 2014paper on their findings about the Beelzebufofrog.

After compiling bone fragments collected over a decade, the two confirmed the frog's lineage and its closest relative in modern times, the Pac-Man-like horned frog.

Lappin saw an opportunity to use empirical data from a living animal to help his colleagues learn more about the ferocious ancient frog,sometimes called "thedevil frog" or "the frog from hell."

• Why frogs thrived after dinosaurs were wiped out
• Frogs devoured prey with thousands of hooked teeth

So,workingwithhorned frogs of various ages over a period of nearly 10 years, the scientistsuseda custom-made device consisting of two plates covered with leather to measure the force of the frogs'bites.

They found that small horned frogs can bite with a force equivalent to 30 newtons, or about three kilograms. A scaling experiment then calculated that the largest horned frogliving today the kind about the size of a dinner plate would have 500 newtons, or around 50 kilograms, behind its bite.

Using the same scaling relationship, the scientists estimated that the Beelzebufohada bite force of up to 2,200 newtons, or 220 kilograms, which is comparable to formidable predators from the mammal world, such aswolves or female tigers.

'This animal is a biter'

But to arrive at these findings,how did the scientistsget the Pac-Mac frog to bite on command in a laboratory setting?

Lappin refers to famed Danish physiologistAugust Kroghto explain: "He said that for every research question, there's a perfect animal. This animal is a biter. They often won't let go. They'll try to swallow your finger."

Simply holding themeasuring device called a transducer in one hand andthe frog in the other and giving the frog a light tap on the mouth was all it took to prompt that vise-like bite, said Lappin.

"The bite of a large Beelzebufo would have been remarkable;definitely not something I would want to experience firsthand."