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Formerly present, possibly extirpated in California
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Adults, Pima County, Arizona. Courtesy of Cecil Schwalbe. |
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| Adult, Pima County, Arizona. Courtesy of Cecil Schwalbe. |
Adult, Yavapai County, Arizona |
Juvenile, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
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Adults, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
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Juvenile, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
Adult, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
Adult, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
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Juvenile, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
Juvenile, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
Juvenile, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
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Adult, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
Adult, Santa Cruz County, Arizona, with larger, greener Chiricahua Leopard Frogs in the background. |
Sub-adult, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
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Adult, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
Adult, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
Adult, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
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Adult, Yavapai County, Arizona |
Sub-adult, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
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Tadpoles at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson |
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Very young tadpole, Santa Cruz County,
Arizona |
Tadpole, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
Tadpole, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
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Mature tadpole, Santa Cruz County,
Arizona |
Eggs laid by a newly-introduced captive in an outdoor enclosure at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson
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Habitat |
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Distant view of San Felipe Wash,
Imperial County, former habitat.
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Habitat, Santa Cruz Co., Arizona |
Habitat, Santa Cruz Co., Arizona |
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Habitat, Santa Cruz County, Arizona
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Habitat, Santa Cruz County, Arizona |
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Short Video |
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Juvenile leopard frogs hop around a small desert creek.
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Leopard frogs around a cattle pond in Santa Cruz County, Arizona.
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A Lowland Leopard frog calls at night from a small pond in Pima County, Arizona. |
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Description |
| Size |
| Adults are 1 4/5 to 3 2/5 inches long from snout to vent (4.6 - 8.6 cm). Males grow up to 2.8 inches (7.2 cm). |
| Appearance |
| Tan, brown, light green to bright green above. Large dark dorsal spots, usually with no light halos. Typically there are no spots on the head in front of the eyes. Yellowish below, including the groin and often on the underside of the legs. Older frogs sometimes have dark throat markings. Markings on the rear of the thighs have more dark than light coloring and this reticulation has distinct margins. Prominent light-colored dorsolateral folds are interrupted on the lower back. Faint light stripe on the upper lip. |
| Voice |
| Several short low chuckles, sounding like quick, short, kisses. Calls at night, sometimes during the day. (You can listen to it at AmphibiaWeb.) |
| Behavior |
| Little is known of the behavior of R. yavapaiensis. Appears to stay close to water, seeking shelter in streamside vegetation. In cold areas they are inactive in the winter, but they can be active all year long in geothermal springs or at low elevations (such as the California localities.) To avoid predators, frogs remain still to avoid detection, as well as hopping into water or vegetation to evade capture. |
| Diet |
| Most likely eats a variety of invertebrates, along with small fish, frogs, and birds. Tadpoles consume plant matter. |
| Reproduction and Young |
Reproduction is aquatic. Fertilization is external. Throughout most of its range, breeding occurs from January to April, possibly with two annual breeding episodes.Males make an advertisement call to attract females. Breeding habitat is a variety of natural and man-made aquatic systems such as cattle tanks, canals. irrigation sloughs, rivers, permanent streams, pools in intermittant streams, springs, and beaver ponds.
Egg masses are laid near the water surface. Eggs have been observed to hatch in 15 to 18 days. Tadpoles metamorphose their first year in 3 - 4 months, or they may overwinter and transform in as long as 9 months. |
| Range |
Historically in California, this frog ranged from San Felipe Creek, Imperial county east to the lower Colorado River Valley and up the Colorado River into Riverside and San Bernardino counties. (One source states that they were in the Coachella Valley [Platt and Frost, 1984])
Isolated populations may remain in the Imperial Valley and the San Felipe Creek drainage, but it is likely that R. yavapaiensis has been extirpated in California.
Outside of California, the historical distribution of this frog was discontinuous, from its easternmost range in extreme west New Mexico, north to Clark county, Nevada & Utah, south to Sonora, Mexico, and west to the Colorado River. However, the frogs along the Virgin and Colorado rivers in extreme northwest Arizona, Utah and Nevada are now thought to be Rana onca, the Relict Leopard Frog.
Jennings and Fuller determined in their 2004 report on the distribution of leopard frogs in California that "Lowland leopard frogs are apparently native to the lower Colorado river (Van Denburgh and Slevin 1913), and natural overflow lakes and tributary streams in the imperial valley. This frog was known to be present at isolated locations such as Carrizo Wash, Harper's Well Wash, and Kane Springs west of the Salton Sea before 1940. ... ...observations indicate that lowland leopard frogs expanded their range in the Imperial Valley and along the Coilorado River with the development of lage-scale, irrigated agriculture in former desert areas during the early part of the 20th Century (Storer 1925, Klauber 1934)."
According to Storer (1925) "Upon a visit to Imperial Valley on March 27 and 28, 1923, the present writer found Rana pipiens [at that time R. yavapaiensis was recognized as R. pipiens.] in some numbers in overflow ponds between Brawley and El Centro and in roadside ditches west of the latter town between Seeley and Dixieland." (It is possible that by 1923 these were already Rana berlandieri.) |
| Habitat |
A habitat generalist - throughout most of its range, this frog is found in streams, river side channels, springs, ponds, stock ponds in desert scrub, grassland, woodland, and Pinyon Juniper.
In California: "A detailed understanding of the habitat requirements of R. yavapaiensis is lacking, but this species apparently inhabited slackwater aquatic habitats dominated by bulrushes, cattails, and riparian grasses near or under an overstory of Fremont's cottonwoods and willows (Storer 1925, Stebbins 1951, Glaser 1970, Jennings and Hayes 1994; see also Lowe 1985, Jones 1988a [as R. pipiens]). Lowland leopard frogs were also seen in canals, roadside ditches, and ponds in the Imperial Valley during the first quarter of this century (Storer 1925, Klauber 1934), but the context of its occurrence in those areas is not well understood because that era was a period of extensive habitat alteration. Lowland leopard frogs may have simply been transitory in those areas." (CA Dept. of Fish & Game HCPB)
From sea level to 5,577 ft. elevation (1700 m.) |
| Taxonomic Notes |
Formally described in 1984. Previously grouped with the Rana pipiens complex.
This frog has been renamed Lithobates yavapaiensis, but this nomenclature is not yet standard. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
Endangered or extirpated in California. No longer present in over 50 percent of its historical range elsewhere. No frogs have been recorded in California since the last one was collected from an irrigation ditch east of Calexico in 1965, but there have been few surveys. One survey of the lower Colorado River in 1978 (Vitt and Ohmart) concluded that there were no Lowland Leopard Frogs left in that area. Surveys in 1983 and 1987 (Clarkson and Rorabaugh 1989) found no frogs in California.
The spread of introduced Rana berlandieri, predatory crayfish, fish, bullfrogs, habitat alteration by agriculture, grazing, development, and building of reservoirs have all been mentioned as possible contributors to the decline of R. yavapaiensis. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Ranidae |
True Frogs |
| Genus |
Rana |
True Frogs |
| Species |
yavapaiensis |
Lowland Leopard Frog
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Original Description |
Platz and Frost, 1984 - Copeia, 940-948.
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Rana - Frog - "Rana" probably mimics how the Romans heard their call.
yavapaiensis - belonging to the Yavapai Native American group - probably referring to the type locality
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Lithobates yavapaiensis
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Related or Similar California Frogs |
Rana berlandieri
Rana draytonii
Rana aurora
Rana boylii
Rana cascadae
Rana pipiens
Rana pretiosa
Rana catesbeiana
Rana muscosa
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
AmphibiaWeb
Jennings, Mark R., and Michael M. Fuller. 2004. Origin and distribution of leopard frogs, Rana pipiens complex, in California. California Fish and Game 90(3):119-139.
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Degenhardt, William G., Charles W. Painter, & Andrew H. Price. Amphibians and Reptiles of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, 1996.
Williamson, Michael A., Paul W. Hyder, & John S. Applegarth. Snakes, Lizards, Turtles, Frogs, Toads & Salamanders of New Mexico. Sunstone Press, 1994.
Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Amphibians of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009.
Elliott, Lang, Carl Gerhardt, and Carlos Davidson. Frogs and Toads of North America, a Comprehensive Guide to their Identification, Behavior, and Calls. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.
Lannoo, Michael (Editor). Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species. University of California Press, June 2005.
Wright, Anna. Handbook of Frogs and Toads of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press, 1949.
Storer, Tracy I. A Synopsis of the Amphibia of California. University of Califonia Publications in Zoology Volume 27, The University of California Press, 1925.
Davidson, Carlos. Booklet to the CD Frog and Toad Calls of the Pacific Coast - Vanishing Voices. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, 1995.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
None |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
None |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
DFG:SSC |
California Species of Special Concern |
| Bureau of Land Management |
BLM:S |
Sensitive |
| USDA Forest Service |
None |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
G4 SX |
Apparently Secure |
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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IUCN:LC |
Least Concern |
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