Leopard frog
| Leopard frog | |
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| Southern Leopard Frog (Rana sphenocephala) | |
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A leopard frog (sometimes called a meadow frog) can mean any frog of about 14 species within the true frog genus. They are generally similarly colored—green with prominent black spotting that sometimes appears as a leopard pattern. They are distinguished by their distribution and certain rather subtle ecological, behavioral, morphological and genetic traits. Their range in the North-American subcontinent extends throughout temperate and subtropical North America to northern Mexico, with some species found even further south. They are also found in Europe.
Taxonomy
Leopard frogs (meadow frogs) were briefly grouped with the American bullfrog and relatives in the genus Lithobates. Lithobates, however, is no longer recognized as a genus by most authors.[1][2][3]
Species
Further species may exist in this famous cryptic species complex
- Blue Leopard Frog
- Chiricahua Leopard Frog, Rana chiricahuensis
- Guerreran Leopard Frog, Rana omiltemana
- Island Leopard Frog, Rana miadis
- Lowland Leopard Frog, Rana yavapaiensis
- Northern Leopard Frog, Rana pipiens
- Northwest Mexico Leopard Frog, Rana magnaocularis
- Plains Leopard Frog, Rana blairi
- Ramsey Canyon Leopard Frog, Rana subaquavocalis
- Relict Leopard Frog Rana onca
- Rio Grande Leopard Frog, Rana berlandieri
- Southern Leopard Frog, Rana sphenocephala
- Tlaloc's Leopard Frog, Rana tlaloci
- Transverse Volcanic Leopard Frog, Rana neovolcanica
- Vegas Valley Leopard Frog, Rana fisheri
New species
In March 2012, it was announced that DNA testing had confirmed that a new species of leopard frog had been found whose habitat was centered near New York's Yankee Stadium[4] and included northern New Jersey, southeastern mainland New York, and Staten Island; the new still unnamed species is part of a cryptic species complex that was first distinguished by its short, repetitive croak, distinct from the "long snore" or "rapid chuckle" of other area leopard frog species. <This species has now been identified as far south as southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.[5][6] On 30 October 2014, it was announced that the frog which was found in March 2012, is a new species of leopard frog called Rana kauffeldi that once inhabited Manhattan, New York.[7]
Footnotes
- ↑ Hillis & Wilcox (2005)
- ↑ Hillis (2007)
- ↑ Pauly et al. (2009)
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- ↑ Newman CE, Feinberg JA, Rissler LJ, Burger J, Shaffer HR. 2012. A new species of leopard frog (Anura: Ranidae) from the urban northeastern US. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 63 (2): 445-455. ("Rana sp. nov.")
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
References
- Hillis, David M. & Wilcox, Thomas P. (2004) Phylogeny of the New World true frogs (Rana) Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 34(2): 299–314. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.007 PMID 15619443 PDF fulltext
- Hillis, David. M. (2007) Constraints in naming parts of the Tree of Life. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 42: 331–338. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.08.001 PMID 16997582 PDF fulltext
- Pauly, Greg B., Hillis, David M. & Cannatella, David C. (2009): Taxonomic freedom and the role of official lists of species names. Herpetologica 65: 115–128. doi:10.1655/08-031R1.1 PDF fulltext
External links
- Leopard Frog at Western Ecological Research Centre
- Plains Leopard Frog – Rana blairi at the Iowa Reptile and Amphibian Field Guide
