American marsh frog

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American marsh frog
Pickerel Frog.jpg

American marsh frog ( Rana palustris )

Systematics
without rank: Amphibians (Lissamphibia)
Order : Frog (anura)
Subordination : Neobatrachia
Family : Real frogs (Ranidae)
Genre : Real frogs ( Rana )
Type : American marsh frog
Scientific name
Rana palustris
Le Conte , 1825
Distribution of the American marsh frog in the USA and Canada

The American marsh frog ( Rana palustris , Syn .: Lithobates palustris ), more precisely: North American marsh frog , is a frog from the family of real frogs (Ranidae). It is common in the eastern United States and Canada .

Appearance

The species reached a body length of 4.4 to 7.8 cm. The main color of the American marsh frog is brown. The skin is smooth and has poison glands. A line of light runs along the upper jaw. The frog has many dorsal spots, the border of which is white, the color of the spots is dark brown. Yellow or orange tints on spots exist on the hind limbs. The eyes are beige to yellow. The tadpoles are yellow and are 1.9 to 2.7 cm tall.

distribution

The American marsh frog is native to eastern North America. Its distribution area begins in the south of the province of Québec in Canada and extends further south over the eastern tip of the US state Minnesota to the east of Texas . The southern limit of the range is found in the western part of Florida , in Alabama and Georgia there are only limited populations, the southern range extends east to South Carolina . In the eastern part of the range is the northern border in Nova Scotia, Canada . In North America it is called Pickerel Frog in English or Grenouille des marais in French .

The limits of the distribution area are not always reliable, especially in the north, where it overlaps with that of the leopard frog, as confusion cannot be ruled out.

The American marsh frog prefers cool, clear water. It can be found on ponds and lakes, in the coastal plains it prefers the wetlands and floodplains, in karst areas it is often found near caves.

Way of life

Hibernation lasts from November to February, and the frogs mate in spring. About 2000 to 3000 eggs are laid in several spherical spawning balls , which are attached to aquatic plants by the female underwater. The eggs are on average 1.7 millimeters in size and are surrounded by two layers. The tadpoles take 70 to 80 days to develop into a frog. The American marsh frog, like most common frogs, is nocturnal. Activity is encouraged by heavy rains. If the frog is attacked, it secretes toxins.

croak

The male's two vocal sacs are well developed and clearly visible during courtship calls. The courtship call, which can last a second or two, sounds like a brief pulsating snore or croak, followed by a chuckle.

Danger

The American marsh frog, like most amphibians, is threatened by the drainage and development of wetlands. The American marsh frog also has to rely on very clean, clear water. As a result, it can no longer be found near cities, for example in the Chicago area . It is classified in the Red List in "Category 3" (least concern).

Taxonomy

The American marsh frog was in 1825 by JE LeConte for specimens probably from around Philadelphia came, first described .

In 1983 the American marsh frog was discovered by Hillis et al. placed within the subgenus Rana (Rana) in the Rana areolata subgroup of the Rana pipiens complex. In 2006, Frost et al. proposed to place the American marsh frog in the genus Lithobates . DM Hillis advised, however, to wait for further molecular genetic investigations in order to be able to better establish new generic boundaries within the group. He placed the frog as Rana (Nenirana) palustris in the subgenus Nenirana .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ DM Hillis and TP Wilcox: Phylogeny of the New World True Frogs (Rana). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 34, pp. 299-314, 2005
  2. ↑ Lithobates palustris Amphibian Species of the World 5.4 , an online reference from the American Museum of Natural History .
  3. ↑ Michael Lannoo (Ed.): Amphibian Declines. The Conservation Status of United States Species. University of California Press, 2005 ISBN 978-0-52023-592-2
  4. ↑ Pickerel Frog - Voice , sonogram and audio sample at The Frogs and Toads of Georgia ( MP3 )
  5. ↑ IUCN Redlist (Eng.)
  6. ^ JE LeConte: Remarks on the American species of the genera Hyla and Rana. Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New-York, 1, pp. 278-282, 1825, pp. 282
  7. ^ DM Hillis, JS Frost, and DA Wright: Phylogeny and biogeography of the Rana pipiens complex: a biochemical evaluation. Systematic Zoology, 32, pp. 132-143, 1983
  8. ↑ Darrel R. Frost, Taran Grant, Julián Faivovich, Raoul H. Bain, Alexander Haas, Celio FB Haddad, Rafael O. de Sá, A. Channing, Mark Wilkinson, Stephen C. Donnellan, Christopher J. Raxworthy, Jonathan A. Campbell, Boris L. Blotto, Paul E. Moler, Robert C. Drewes, Ronald A. Nussbaum, John D. Lynch, David M. Green, and Ward C. Wheeler: The amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 297, pp. 1-370, 2006 full text
  9. ^ DM Hillis: Constraints in naming parts of the Tree of Life. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 42, pp. 331-338, 2007, pp. 335-336

literature

  • Greg B. Pauly, David M. Hillis and David C. Cannatella: Taxonomic freedom and the role of official lists of species names. Herpetologica, 65, pp. 115-128, 2009.
  • M. Redmer and KS Mierzwa: A review of the distribution and zoogeography of the pickerel frog, Rana palustris, in northern Illinois. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society, 29, pp. 21-30, 1994.

Web links

Commons : American marsh frog ( Lithobates palustris )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files