This ‘Frog From Hell' Had The Bite Of A Wolf And Likely Ate Dinosaurs — A Biologist Explains

Forbes

11-04-2025

Before frogs were cute, Beelzebufo ampinga, or the 'frog from hell,' may have lurked in Madagascar's ... More shadows with a skull built for bone-crunching — and possibly dinosaur-snacking.
In the Cretaceous forests of ancient Madagascar, one frog earned its fearsome name the hard way.
Beelzebufo ampinga — sometimes called the 'frog from hell' — wasn't large by dinosaur standards, but among amphibians, it was a standout. Measuring up to 40 cm long, this extinct frog likely relied on ambush tactics and sheer jaw force to take down prey.
Today, its closest living relatives are the much smaller horned frogs of South America, raising questions about deep evolutionary ties — and just how far amphibian predation can go.
Today, its closest known relatives may be the much smaller horned frogs of South America — a relationship still debated among scientists. Their potential connection raises intriguing questions about deep evolutionary ties, and just how far amphibian predation can go.
For most frogs, the jaws are an afterthought. Soft-bodied, bug-catching specialists, they rely more on sticky tongues than strength. But Beelzebufo ampinga and its modern relatives of the Ceratophrys genus are noteworthy exceptions.
Cranwell's horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli), with its round body and capacious mouth, packs an outsized bite. A September 2017 study published in Scientific Reports revealed that even a horned frog with a modest 4.5 cm head is capable of producing a bite force of up to 32.9 newtons. This would be comparable to balancing three kilograms on a fingertip.
For a large Ceratophrys aurita, the bite force is estimated at nearly 500 newtons, a level typically reserved for reptiles and small carnivorous mammals.
Using this scaling, researchers estimated that Beelzebufo ampinga — a Late Cretaceous predator with a head over 15 cm wide — could exert up to 2,200 newtons of bite force. That puts it in the same league as wolves and female tigers.
The frog's skeletal structure supports this with rigid skulls, strong jaw-adductor muscles, fused mandibular joints and recurved teeth optimized for puncture and grip. Beelzebufo may not have had venom (like Bruno's casque-headed frog) or speed, but it had a singular advantage in the prehistoric arms race — raw, compressive power.
Roughly the size of a beach ball, Beelzebufo ampinga was fundamentally more formidable than its modern cousins. With an estimated skull width of up to 15 cm and a body length around 40 cm, the largest individuals likely exceeded 4.5 kilograms in mass. For comparison, that's heavier than the modern Goliath frog.
The frog's fossilized bones, unearthed from northwestern Madagascar and dating to around 70 to 66 million years ago, paint a picture of an animal with an exceptionally broad, flat skull armored with bony ridges, and teeth that were sharp and surprisingly numerous​.
Alongside robust jaw joints and strong cranial sutures, they suggest a sit-and-wait ambush predator built to tackle prey nearly its own size. Beelzebufo shared its environment with a cast of now-extinct reptiles and dinosaurs far too large to trouble, but whose juveniles may not have been so lucky.
And while it may no longer have direct descendants on the island it once ruled, its living relatives still prowl the subtropical forests and grasslands of South America. The horned frogs of the Ceratophrys genus — known to hobbyists as 'Pac-Man frogs' for their gaping mouths — share not just an evolutionary lineage, but the same toothy appetite and pugnacious attitude.
What the fossil record leaves us with is a glimpse into a niche so specialized it barely exists today. A frog that ate like a reptile, defended itself like an armored tank and lived alongside the last of the non-avian dinosaurs. Not bad for an amphibian.
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