The discovery is not necessarily a new one, with records dating back to 2009 of the first discovery of strange 'fanged' frogs and toads in the pristine wilderness of the Papau New Guinea jungles. But what was once considered a small community of just a few species, is slowly growing in to a larger genus of amphibians with yet more discoveries of 13 species of fanged frogs on Sulawesi, of which 9 are completely new to science.
The expedition, led by Ben Evans, a biologist at the McMaster University, Canada, discovered the array of new species in the far reaches of unexplored forests, as well as a range of already known species not known to be living on the Island, and the study was published in the August edition of scientific journal The American Naturalist.
Little is known about the purpose of the 'fangs', which have been investigated to be protrusions of jaw bone, as opposed to teeth, though from the limited studies made, it is suggested that they lead some assistance in the predation of the animal's natural diet in the fast moving rivers of their natural habitat, with frogs noted to have larger protrusions tending to prey on more substantially sized foods such as fish and tadpoles.
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