Lithobates Explained

Lithobates, commonly known as the bullfrogs, is a genus of true frogs, of the family Ranidae. The name is derived from litho- (stone) and the Greek (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βάτης, one that treads), meaning one that treads on rock, or rock climber.[1] [2] 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.

Systematics

The name was defined by Hillis and Wilcox (2005) for a subgenus of four Central and South American frogs within the genus Rana.[3] [4] The subgenus was subsequently expanded to seven species in Central and South America in a systematic revision of the genus Rana.[5] 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,[6] 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).[7] This proposed change has since been rejected by others, such as Stuart (2008),[8] Pauly et al. (2009),[9] AmphibiaWeb,[10] and Yuan et al. (2016). AmphibiaWeb, available at http://amphibiaweb.org/, an online compendium of amphibian names, follows Yuan et al. (2016) in recognizing Lithobates as a subgenus. On the other hand, Amphibian Species of the World 6.0, an online reference, uses Lithobates as a genus. This definition is also followed by, e.g., the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.

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.

Species

Recent species

These species are recognised in the genus Lithobates:

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:[11]

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

Notes and References

  1. Book: Dodd, C. Kenneth. Frogs of the United States and Canada. 1. 2013. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 978-1-4214-0633-6. 20.
  2. one that treads or covers
  3. Hillis . David M. . Wilcox . Thomas P. . 2005 . Phylogeny of the New World true frogs (Rana) . . 34 . 2. 299–314 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.007 . 15619443 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080528131608/http://www.cnah.org/pdf_files/215.pdf . 2008-05-28 .
  4. Hillis . David M . 2007 . Constraints in naming parts of the Tree of Life . . 42 . 2. 331–338 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.08.001 . 16997582.
  5. Yuan. Zhi-Yong. Zhou. Wei-Wei. Chen. Xin. Poyarkov. Nikolay A.. Chen. Hong-Man. Jang-Liaw. Nian-Hong. Chou. Wen-Hao. Matzke. Nicholas J.. Iizuka. Koji. Min. Mi-Sook. Kuzmin. Sergius L.. Zhang. Ya-Ping. Cannatella. David C.. Hillis. David M.. Che. Jing . 2016 . Spatiotemporal diversification of the true frogs (genus Rana): A historical framework for a widely studied group of model organisms . Systematic Biology . 824–842 . 10.1093/sysbio/syw055 . 27288482 . 65. 5. free. 2292/43460. free.
  6. Frost, Darrel R. (2006): Amphibian Species of the World Version 3 - Petropedetidae Noble, 1931. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. Retrieved 2006-AUG-05., Frost, Darrel R. et al. (2006): The amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. Number 297. New York.
  7. Crother, B.I. (ed.) (2008): Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North American north of Mexico - Web site: Standard and Common Names . 2012-04-28 . dead . https://archive.today/20130416032441/http://www.ssarherps.org/pages/comm_names/Lithobates_main.php . 2013-04-16 . . SSAR Herptological Circular 37:1-84.
  8. Stuart, Bryan L. (2008): The phylogenetic problem of Huia (Amphibia: Ranidae). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 46(1): 49-60 (HTMl abstract)
  9. Pauly . Greg B. . Hillis . David M. . Cannatella . David C. . 2009 . Taxonomic freedom and the role of official lists of species names . Herpetologica . 65 . 2. 115–128 . 10.1655/08-031r1.1 . 283839 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110725183043/http://www.cnah.org/pdf_files/1255.pdf . 2011-07-25 .
  10. AmphibiaWeb: Information on amphibian biology and conservation. [web application]. 2012. Berkeley, California: Rana
  11. Sanchiz . B. . 2012-01-01 . Nomenclatural notes on living and fossil amphibians . Graellsia.

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