Pickerel Frog
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the pickerel frog. For the pickerel fish, see Esox.
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 Pickerel frog in the White Mountains (New Hampshire)
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| Rana palustris LeConte, 1825 |
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 Pickerel Frog range
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The Pickerel Frog (Rana palustris[1][2]) is a small North American frog, characterized by the appearance of seemingly "hand-drawn" squares on their dorsal surface. All other leopard frogs have circular spots.
The Pickerel Frog is a poisonous frog. It secretes a poison from its skin that can make humans very sick and be fatal to smaller animals
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[edit] Distinguishing features
The spots of pickerel may blend together to form a long rectangle along the back. In addition, they have prominent dorsolateral ridges that are unbroken. A very distinguishing mark is the orange or yellow coloring found within the hind legs. The frog must be picked up to examine this as the legs cover the coloration otherwise. The Plains Leopard Frog (Lithobates blairi) exhibits this coloration as well, but the dorsolateral ridges are inset medially in this species.
[edit] Range
The pickerel ranges in the west from much of Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota, eastern Iowa, through Missouri and down to eastern Texas. To the east they extend through northern Louisiana, most of Mississippi, northern Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina to the coast. Their northern range extends into Canada in the southern reaches of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The range is spotty through the midwestern states and a field guide should be obtained for the specifics on ranges in a particular area.
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] References
- Hammerson (2004). Rana palustris. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 09 May 2006. Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is of least concern
- Redmer, M. and Mierzwa, K.S. (1994). "A review of the distribution and zoogeography of the pickerel frog, Rana palustris, in northern Illinois". Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society 29: 21–30.
- Hillis, D.M. & Wilcox, T.P. (2005): Phylogeny of the New World true frogs (Rana). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 34(2): 299–314. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.007 PDF fulltext.
- Hillis, D. M. (2007) Constraints in naming parts of the Tree of Life. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 42: 331–338.
Arnold, K. 2000. "Rana palustris" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed September 25, 2007 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Rana_palustris.html.
[edit] External links
- Comparison of pickerel frog vs. leopard frog species.
- Species information from the USGS.
- Very detailed biology of the pickerel frog on The Frogs & Toads of Georgia.
