Hyla versicolor LeConte, 1825
Hyla verrucosa Daudin In Sonnini de Manoncourt and Latreille, 1801 (An. X), Hist. Nat. Rept., 2: 186. Holotype: MNHNP according to the original publication, and presumably that figured on pl. 4, fig. 1 of Daudin, 1802 "An. XI", Hist. Nat. Rain. Gren. Crap., Quarto: adjacent to page 20. Type locality: Unknown. Considered a possible senior synonym of Hyla versicolor by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 372.
Calamita verrucosus — Merrem, 1820, Tent. Syst. Amph.: 172.
Hyla versicolor LeConte, 1825, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, 1: 281. Type(s): Not designated; likely originally deposited in ANSP or USNM or Philadelphia Mus., now presumed lost; AMNH 84483 designated neotype by Smith, Fitzgerald, and Guillette, 1992, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 49: 152, and Opinion 1716, Anonymous, 1993, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 50: 94. Type locality: "Northern States"; restricted to "vicinity of New York, New York", USA, by Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 73. Neotype is from "Alpine, Bergen County, New Jersey", USA. Placed on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology by Opinion 1716, Anonymous, 1993, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 50: 94.
Dendrohyas versicolor — Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 34, 75.
Dryophytes versicolor — Fitzinger, 1843, Syst. Rept.: 31.
Hyla richardii Baird, 1854, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 7: 60. Holotype: Not stated; MCZ 2128, according to Barbour and Loveridge, 1929, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 69: 280. Type locality: "Cambridge, [Essex County,] Massachusetts", USA. Synonymy by Cope, 1889, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 34: 373.
Hyla versicolor phaeocrypta Cope, 1889, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 34: 375. Holotype: USNM 12074 by original designation. Type locality: "Mount Carmel, [Wabash County,] Ill[inois].", USA. Synonymy by Viosca, 1928, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 41: 89; Smith, 1953, Herpetologica, 9: 169. Considered a senior synonym of Hyla avivoca by Mittleman, 1945, Copeia, 1945: 31.
Hyla versicolor versicolor — Cope, 1889, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 34: 375.
Hyla phaeocrypta phaeocrypta — Neill, 1948, Herpetologica, 4: 175.
English Names
Northern Tree-toad (De Kay, 1842, Zool. New York, 1: 71).
Changeable Tree-toad (Wood, 1863, Illust. Nat. Hist., 3: 171).
Chameleon Hyla (Yarrow, 1882, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 24: 24).
Chameleon Tree Frog (Hay, 1892, Annu. Rep. Dept. Geol. Nat. Res. Indiana for 1891: 464; Strecker, 1915, Baylor Bull., 18: 49).
Common Tree Toad (Storer, 1840, Boston J. Nat. Hist., 3: 48; Jordan, 1878, Man. Vert. North. U.S., Ed. 2: 189; Davis and Rice, 1883, Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci., 1: 28; Fowler, 1907, Annu. Rep. N.J. State Mus. for 1906: 112).
Common Tree Frog (Rhoads, 1895, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 47: 405; Dickerson, 1906, The Frog Book: 117; Brimley, 1907, J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc., 23: 158; Wright and Wright, 1933, Handb. Frogs Toads U.S. Canada: x; Carr, 1940, Univ. Florida Biol. Sci. Ser., 3: 61).
Dusky Tree Toad (Wright and Wright, 1933, Handb. Frogs Toads U.S. Canada: x).
Rain Toad (Stejneger and Barbour, 1933, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 3: 36).
Eastern Common Tree Frog (Viosca, 1949, Pop. Sci. Bull., Louisiana Acad. Sci., 1: 10).
Gray Tree Frog (Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 73).
Eastern Gray Treefrog (Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 176; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 7).
Gray Treefrog (Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 176; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 11; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 58; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 12; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 10; Frost, McDiarmid, and Mendelson, 2008, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 37: 6; Frost, McDiarmid, Mendelson, and Green, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 15).
Distribution
Eastern Texas north and northeast to Minnesota and Virginia and thence to Maine and in Canada in southern Quebec, southern Ontario, and southeastern Manitoba. Distribution highly provisional due to confusion with Hyla chrysoscelis.
Comment
In the Hyla versicolor group of Faivovich, Haddad, Garcia, Frost, Campbell, and Wheeler, 2005, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 294: 102. Hyla versicolor and Hyla chrysoscelis are very similar species which can only be distinguished by call, NOR's, karyotypes, or cell volume. Nominal Hyla versicolor (N=4)is possibly polyphyletic and further work is needed to elucidate the historical components of this complex. The actual range of each species is poorly understood. Ptacek, Gerhardt, and Sage, 1994, Evolution, 48: 898-908, suggested that "Hyla versicolor" is a set of at least three lineages, independently derived from the two lineages of "Hyla chrysoscelis". This view of three independent lineages gained additional support from Espinoza and Noor, 2002, J. Heredity, 93: 81-85. See also evidence for a single origin of Hyla versicolor in Ralin, Romano, and Kilpatrick, 1983, Herpetologica, 39: 212-225, and earlier discussions by Bogart and Wasserman, 1972, Cytogenetics, 11: 7-24, and Ralin and Selander, 1979, Evolution, 33: 595-608. Holloway, Cannatella, Gerhardt, and Hillis, 2006, Am. Nat., 167: E88-E101, provided an analysis that discussed the role of Hyla chrysoscelis and two extinct species in the formation of the tetraploid Hyla versicolor, discussed previous literature and provided a revised range.
External Links
Please note: these links will take you to external websites not affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History. We are not responsible for their content.
- For additional sources of information from other sites search Google
- For images search Arkive, CalPhoto Images and Google Images
- To search the NIH genetic sequence database, see GenBank
- For information aggregation from other sites and some original accounts see AmphibiaWeb report
- For further information on conservation status and distribution see the IUCN Redlist
- For related information on conservation and images as well as observation see iNaturalist;
- for a quick link to their maps see iNaturalist KML
- For access to informatoin on fossils see Lisanfos
