GENEVA — A team of German and Swiss zoologists have discovered an imposing new large-fanged frog species in West Africa. The batrachian’s anatomy and genetics are very different from its cousins of the same region, according to the report published in the periodical Frontiers in Zoology.
The frog, named Odontobatrachidae, has the notable characteristic of big curved teeth in the upper jaw and two distinctive fangs in the lower jaw, which, the scientists say, could be used to eat other frogs, a relatively rare but not unheard of amongst some frog species.
The zoologists came across the new species while studying other types of frogs living in tropical forests in Guinea, Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast and Liberia. Such discoveries are extremely rare in the 21st century.
The scientists say the Odontobatrachidae form a very distinctive group that may have been separated from other frog lines around 90 million years ago, when dinosaurs still walked the Earth.
Read the full report here.
