New species of African bullfrog is the largest in more than 100 years

Gugs Mhlungu spoke to resident CSI & Nature Conservationist, Tim Neary and Professor Louis du Preez, Professor in Zoology at the North-West University.

Listen to their conversation in the audio clip below.

Pyxicephalus beytelli is the name of the new species of African bullfrog that has recently been discovered.

It is said to be the largest frog species found in more than 100 years, weighing one kilogramme and 210 millimetres in length.

"Size-wise, it's big and could fill a dinner plate."

- Louis du Preez, Professor in Zoology - North-West University

Du Preez and his team of researchers made the sighting, which brings the number of bullfrog species to four ever identified in Southern Africa.

These frogs are found in northeastern Namibia, southern Angola, southwestern Zambia and northwestern Botswana.

Describing a new frog is quite a lengthy process, explains Du Preez.

"When you describe a new frog, it's not just a matter of this looks different, let's take a picture and publish it. You have to follow a process where you look at the molecular site, the DNA of the frog and determine if this frog is genetically distinct from any known bullfrogs and then start measuring - we measure literally every aspect of the frog - it came out to be a totally different species of frog that we described and that was published this year."

- Louis du Preez, Professor in Zoology - North-West University

According to a press release by the North-West University, the new species is similar to all other species of bullfrogs in its external structure, internal anatomy and general behaviour. 

"However, two of the main distinguishing features of Pyxicephalus beytelli are its bright yellow and lime green colouring, blue spots and a white vertebral line running down its body. Then there are its prominent and somewhat ferocious teeth, which are sloped backwards (recurved), and two large bony protrusions on the lower jaw."

The identification of this new species is of critical importance to ensure their protection, reads the press release.

"Frogs are resilient. They were the first animal group to colonise land but the truth is today they are the most threatened of all the vertebrates...We roughly have about 40% of known amphibians around the globe to be threatened and that's quite serious and that just emphasises the importance of looking after the habitat." 

- Louis du Preez, Professor in Zoology - North-West University

"One can ask what is the importance of a frog? Frogs serve as food for a lot of animals but also they prey on a lot of insects, pests, mosquitos and stuff like that. If you do the calculations of how many insects a frog takes in a day, it is mind-boggling." 

- Louis du Preez, Professor in Zoology - North-West University

Scroll up to listen to the full interview.