Baja California chorus frog | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Amphibia |
Order: | Anura |
Family: | Hylidae |
Genus: | Pseudacris |
Species: | P. hypochondriaca |
Binomial name | |
Pseudacris hypochondriaca (Hallowell, 1854) | |
Synonyms | |
Hyla scapularis var. hypochondriacaHallowell, 1854 Contents |
The Baja California chorus frog (Pseudacris hypochondriaca) is a cathemeral species of treefrog of Western North America. [1] It was formerly considered as a population of the Pacific chorus frog (Pseudacris regilla), but was split and raised to species status in 2006. The species ranges from the West Coast of the United States from Baja California through southern California. Individuals live from sea level to more than 10,000 feet in many types of habitats, reproducing in aquatic settings.
The Baja California chorus frog can grow .75 - 2 inches long from snout to vent (1.9 - 5.1 cm). [2]
It has a dark stripe that extends from its nostrils through the eyes to shoulders. It can be a variety of colors, including green, tan, brown, gray, reddish, and cream, and has the ability to change color in response to environmental conditions. The dark stripe does not change color, but the body color and markings can change hue, chroma, and lightness to aide with camouflage. [2] The belly is pale with yellow underneath the legs. There is also a Y-shaped or triangular marking between the eyes, a common feature in chorus frogs. It has large toe pads that aid it in climbing trees, although it is not technically a tree frog, and mostly a ground-dweller.
The male's throat is dark colored.
Baja California chorus frogs have long been known as Pacific chorus frogs (Pseudacris regilla or Hyla regilla). However, in 2006, that taxonomic concept was split into three species based on mitochondrial DNA comparisons. [3] Recuero et al. attached the name Pseudacris regilla to the northern species, renaming the central species the Sierran tree frog ( Pseudacris sierra ) and the southern species the Baja California tree frog (Pseudacris hypochondriaca). Because the paper provided no maps or discussion of how to diagnose the species, it has been an extremely controversial taxonomic revision, [4] but has been incorporated into Amphibian Species of the World 6.0. [1] The taxonomic confusion introduced by this name change means that much of the information about Pseudacris hypochondriaca is attached to the name "Pseudacris regilla".
Because this species of chorus frog is found near Hollywood, its vocalizations have frequently been used as stock sounds for film and television. As a result, its distinctive advertising call of "ribbit, ribbit" has become a standard representation of frog vocalizations in the English-speaking world, despite the fact that only it and a few closely related species actually make the sound. [5] [6]
The ornate chorus frog is a species of chorus frog endemic to the Southeastern United States. Their distribution ranges from North Carolina, east to the very eastern part of Louisiana, and south to northern parts of Florida.
The spring peeper is a small chorus frog widespread throughout the eastern United States and Canada. They prefer permanent ponds due to their advantage in avoiding predation; however, they are very adaptable with respect to the habitat they can live in. In northern regions, the frog is able to endure below freezing temperatures due to the capacity of their livers to exude and flush the bloodstream with a glucose cryoprotectant which acts both as an anti-freeze in their blood, and allows organs like the heart to enter into a state of protected dormancy. They are so called because of their chirping call that marks the beginning of spring. Crucifer is derived from the Latin root meaning "cross-bearing". This could be a reference to the cross-like pattern on the spring peeper's dorsal side.
Hylidae is a wide-ranging family of frogs commonly referred to as "tree frogs and their allies". However, the hylids include a diversity of frog species, many of which do not live in trees, but are terrestrial or semiaquatic.
Pseudacris is a genus of frogs in the family Hylidae found in North America ranging from the Pacific coastline to the Atlantic.
The California tree frog or California chorus frog is a "true" tree frog from southern California (USA) and Baja California (Mexico). Until recently, the California tree frog was classified in the genus Hyla.
The Pacific tree frog, also known as the Pacific chorus frog, has a range spanning the Pacific Northwest, from Northern California, Oregon, and Washington to British Columbia in Canada and extreme southern Alaska. They live from sea level to more than 10,000 feet in many types of habitats, reproducing in aquatic settings. They occur in shades of greens or browns and can change colors over periods of hours and weeks.
The San Francisco garter snake is a slender multi-colored subspecies of the common garter snake. Designated as an endangered subspecies since the year 1967, it is endemic to San Mateo County and the extreme northern part of coastal Santa Cruz County in California.
The western chorus frog, also known as striped chorus frog, or midland chorus frog is a species of frog found in Canada and the United States.
Strecker's chorus frog is a species of nocturnal tree frog native to the south central United States, from southern Kansas, through Oklahoma and east to Arkansas, the northwestern tip of Louisiana and south throughout much of Texas.
The Appalachianmountain chorus frog, formerly known as just the mountain chorus frog, is a species of frog in the family Hylidae. The species is endemic to the United States. The natural habitats of P. brachyphona are temperate forests, rivers, intermittent rivers, swamps, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, freshwater springs, ponds, open excavations, and canals and ditches. It is threatened by habitat loss.
There are 14 species of amphibians and 5 species of reptiles known to occur in Mount Rainier National Park.
Pseudacris kalmi, the New Jersey chorus frog, is a species of frog in the treefrog family Hylidae. It is found in the states near New Jersey in the United States. It was first described as subspecies of Pseudacris triseriata but it is differentiated by range and size. This frog's color ranges from grey to tan or greenish brown with a dark stripe on both sides of the body that extends from the snout, through their eyes, and to the groin. It breeds in early spring from February to April. It broods in shallow bodies of water, especially vernal pools, which dry up later in the season.
The Sierran chorus frog or Sierran treefrog is native to the state of California, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, and Montana. It has a range from the West Coast of the United States from Central California inland through Idaho. They can live at sea level, but also up to more than 10,000 feet utilizing trees, ponds, grasslands, farmlands, meadows, and lakes as habitats. These frogs, alike other, reproduce in aquatic settings. They occur in shades of greens or browns and can change colors over periods of hours and weeks. These colors help them easily blend into the background and hard for the eye to catch.
Acrisinae is a subfamily of the tree frog family Hylidae. There are only two genera in this subfamily, Acris and Pseudacris. They are native to most of the Nearctic realm, and are found as far north as the Great Slave Lake in Canada, all across the United States, and down Baja California and some parts of northern Mexico. One species, the pacific tree frog, has been introduced to several locations outside its range, and it is possible that other species may have been as well.
Here's a bonus fact: you might notice that none of these species says, "ribbit." In fact, the "ribbit" call is unique to the Pacific tree frog, which lives along the Pacific coast, and, notably, in Hollywood, California, where the largest volume of early frog recordings took place.