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Lithobates

Genus of amphibians From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lithobates
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Lithobates, commonly known as the bullfrogs, is a genus of true frogs, of the family Ranidae.[1] The name is derived from litho- (stone) and the Greek bates (βάτης, one that treads), meaning one that treads on rock, or rock climber.[2][3] As presently defined, it includes many of eastern North America's most familiar aquatic frog species, including the American bullfrog, green frog, and the leopard frogs.

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Systematics

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The name was defined by Hillis and Wilcox (2005) for a subgenus of four Central and South American frogs within the genus Rana.[4][5] The subgenus was subsequently expanded to seven species in Central and South America in a systematic revision of the genus Rana.[6] The name was previously used by Frost et al. as a separate genus of ranid frogs that included most of the North American frogs traditionally included in the genus Rana,[7] including the American bullfrog and northern leopard frog. Frost used the name in this sense in the frog section of a North American common names list edited by Crother (2008).[8] This proposed change has since been rejected by others, such as Stuart (2008),[9] Pauly et al. (2009),[10] AmphibiaWeb,[11] and Yuan et al. (2016).[6] AmphibiaWeb, available at http://amphibiaweb.org/, an online compendium of amphibian names, follows Yuan et al. (2016) in recognizing Lithobates as a subgenus.[6] On the other hand, Amphibian Species of the World 6.0, an online reference, uses Lithobates as a genus.[1] This definition is also followed by, e.g., the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)[12] and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.[13]

The earliest known members of this genus are known from the Early Miocene of Florida, and appear to belong to the leopard frog species complex.[14]

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Species

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Recent species

These species are recognised in the genus Lithobates:[1]

Alternatively, if Lithobates is treated as a subgenus (neotropical true frogs), then this narrower definition would contain the following species:

Fossil species

The following fossil species are known, all assignable to the L. pipiens (leopard frog) complex:[14]

  • †Lithobates bucella (Holman, 1965) (Early Miocene of Florida)
  • †Lithobates dubitus (Taylor, 1942) (Pliocene/early Pleistocene of Kansas)
  • †Lithobates fayeae (Taylor, 1942) (Pliocene/early Pleistocene of Kansas)
  • †Lithobates moorei (Taylor, 1942) (Pliocene/early Pleistocene of Kansas)
  • †Lithobates miocenicus (Holman, 1965) (Early Miocene of Florida)
  • †Lithobates robustocondylus (Taylor, 1942) (Pliocene/early Pleistocene of Kansas)
  • †Lithobates rexroadensis (Taylor, 1942) (Pliocene/early Pleistocene of Kansas)
  • †Lithobates parvissimus (Taylor, 1942) (Pliocene/early Pleistocene of Kansas)

The species described in 1942 were previously placed in their own genus, Anchylorana.[14]

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References

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