True frogs is the common name for the frog family Ranidae. They have the widest distribution of any frog family. They are abundant throughout most of the world, occurring on all continents except Antarctica. The true frogs are present in North America, northern South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The Asian range extends across the East Indies to New Guinea and a single species, the Australian wood frog, has spread into the far north of Australia.
Leopard frog is a generic name used to refer to various species in the true frog genus Lithobates. They all have similar coloration: brown or green with spots that form a leopard pattern. They are distinguished by their distribution and behavioral, morphological, and genetic differences. The range of the various species of leopard frogs extends from the Hudson Bay in Canada, throughout the United States, throughout Mexico and other parts of Central America, and possibly the very northern section of South America.
Rana is a genus of frogs commonly known as the Holarctic true frogs, pond frogs or brown frogs. Members of this genus are found through much of Eurasia and western North America. Many other genera were formerly included here. These true frogs are usually largish species characterized by their slim waists and wrinkled skin; many have thin ridges running along their backs, but they generally lack "warts" as in typical toads. They are excellent jumpers due to their long, slender legs. The typical webbing found on their hind feet allows for easy movement through water. Coloration is mostly greens and browns above, with darker and yellowish spots.
The pickerel frog is a small North American frog, characterized by the appearance of seemingly "hand-drawn" squares on its dorsal surface.
Lithobates sphenocephalus or Rana sphenocephala, commonly known as the southern leopard frog, is a medium-sized anuran in the family Ranidae. The southern leopard frog is one of the 36 species currently or formerly classified in the Rana genus found in North America. It is native to eastern North America from Kansas to New York to Florida. It is also an introduced species in some areas. This species lives in cool, clear water in the north, whereas in the south it occurs in warmer turbid and murky waters of coastal and floodplain swamps, twilight zones of caves, and abandoned mines.
The pig frog is a species of aquatic frog found in the Southeastern United States, from South Carolina to Texas. Some sources also refer to it as the lagoon frog or the southern bullfrog.
The Rio Grande leopard frog is a species of aquatic frog native to the southern United States in Texas and New Mexico, and south through Mexico and Central America. It is also sometimes referred to as the Mexican leopard frog. The epithet berlandieri is in honor of the naturalist Jean Louis Berlandier, who worked for the Mexican government on one of the first biological surveys of Texas.
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 bates, meaning one that treads on rock, or rock climber. 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.
The gopher frog is a species of frog in the family Ranidae, endemic to the south-eastern United States. It primarily inhabits the threatened sandhill communities, flatwoods, and scrub in the Atlantic coastal plain, where it is usually found near ponds.
The river frog is a species of aquatic frog in the family Ranidae. It is endemic to the southeastern United States. Its natural habitats are temperate rivers, swamps, freshwater lakes and freshwater marshes. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The Northwest Mexico leopard frog is a species of frog in the family Ranidae endemic to Mexico. This predominantly aquatic frog inhabits temporary or permanent pools in shrublands and mesquite forests. It might be threatened by droughts.
The big-footed leopard frog or bigfoot leopard frog, is a species of frog in the family Ranidae endemic to western central Mexico where it is found in the Nayarit, Jalisco, Michoacán, and Guanajuato states.
The island leopard frog or Little Corn Island frog is a species of frogs in the family Ranidae, endemic to Little Corn Island off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. It is locally known as rana leopardo isleña.
The Guerreran leopard frog is a species of frog in the family Ranidae endemic to the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero, Mexico.
The relict leopard frog is a species of frog in the family Ranidae, endemic to the United States.
The Peralta frog, or montane leopard frog, Lithobates taylori, is a species of frog in the family Ranidae found in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Tlaloc's leopard frog, or rana de Tláloc in Spanish, is a species of frog in the family Ranidae endemic to the Valley of Mexico. It is most likely extinct.
The carpenter frog is a species of true frog found on coastal plain of the Atlantic coast of the United States between central New Jersey and northeastern Florida.
Leslie Jane Rissler is an American biologist best known for her work on amphibian and reptile biogeography, evolutionary ecology, systematics, and conservation, and for her strong advocacy of improving the public’s understanding and appreciation of evolution. She is currently Program Officer in the Evolutionary Processes Cluster of the Division of Environmental Biology and Directorate of Biological Sciences at the National Science Foundation.
The Lenca leopard frog is a species of true frog found in the Chortis Highlands of southwestern Honduras at altitudes of 1560 to 2080 m. This frog was long thought to be a hybrid between the two lowland species Lithobates brownorum and Lithobates forreri until 2018 when DNA tests proved the highland leopard frogs to be a distinct species. They are smaller in size but have larger heads than the two lowland species, with males growing between 46.6–64.3 mm (1.83–2.53 in) while females grow between 43.7–76.3 mm (1.72–3 in). The Lenca leopard frog is named after the Lenca people, who inhabit the same mountainous region as the frog.
