Amphibian Species of the World 5.6, an Online Reference

Rana aurora Baird and Girard, 1852, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 6: 174. Syntypes: Not stated; USNM 11711 (4 specimens) according to Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 72. Type locality: "Puget Sound", Washington, USA.

Rana temporaria aurora — Cope, 1875, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 1: 32. Yarrow and Henshaw, 1878, Annu. Rep. Chief of Engineers for 1878. Appendix L. Rep. Rept. Batr. 1875-1877 California Arizona Nevada: 209.

Rana agilis aurora — Cope, 1886, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., 23: 521. Cope, 1889, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 34: 439.

Rana aurora aurora — Camp, 1917, Univ. California Publ. Zool., 17: 115-125.

Rana (Rana) aurora — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 41. by implication.

Rana (Aurorana) aurora — Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 322.

Rana aurora — Shaffer, Fellers, Voss, Oliver, and Pauly, 2004, Mol. Ecol., 13: 2667.

Rana (Laurasiarana, Amerana) aurora — Hillis and Wilcox, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 34: 311. by implication; see Dubois, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 317-330, and Hillis, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 331-338, for discussion. Invalid name formulation under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999) as discussed by Dubois, 2007, Cladistics, 23: 395.

Rana (Amerana) aurora — Dubois, 2006, C. R. Biol., Paris, 329: 830.

Aurorana aurora — Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Herpetol. Sinica, 12: 37. See comment under Ranidae record.

English Names

Western Wood Frog (Rana aurora: Yarrow, 1882, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 24: 25).

Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora: Stebbins, 1951, Amph. W. North Am.: 334; Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 84; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 176; Stebbins, 1966, Field Guide W. North Am. Rept. Amph.: 70; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 12; Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 27; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 106; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 13; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 14; Stebbins, 2003, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 3: 225).

Oregon Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora aurora: Storer, 1925, Univ. California Publ. Zool., 27: 43; Wright and Wright, 1933, Handb. Frogs Toads U.S. Canada: xi; Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 85),

Northern Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora aurora: Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 176; Stebbins, 1966, Field Guide W. North Am. Rept. Amph.: 71; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 12; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 106; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 13; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 14; Stebbins, 2003, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 3: 226).

Northern Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora: Frost, McDiarmid, and Mendelson, 2008, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 37: 10; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 9; Frost, McDiarmid, Mendelson, and Green, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 20).

Distribution

Southwestern British Columbia and Vancouver Island south along the Pacific coast to Mendocino County, California, USA; isolated record in southeastern Alaska.

Comment

In the Rana boylii group of North American authors. In the Rana aurora group of Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 42, in the equivalent Section Amerana, subgenus Aurorana of Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 322. (Although Aurorana was shown by Hillis and Wilcox, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 34: 305, to be paraphyletic with respect to Amerana.) Reviewed by Altig and Dumas, 1972, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 160: 1-4. Hayes and Miyamoto, 1984, Copeia, 1984: 1018-1022, suggested that Rana aurora aurora and Rana aurora draytoni might be distinct species. Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 322, considered Rana aurora draytoni a distinct species without discussion. Shaffer, Fellers, Voss, Oliver, and Pauly, 2004, Mol. Ecol., 13: 2667-2677, discussed molecular phylogeography, presented data in support of Rana draytonii and Rana aurora being different species, and suggested that Rana aurora is more closely related to Rana cascadae than to Rana draytonii. Conlon, Al-Ghafari, Coquet, Leprince, Jouenne, Vaudry, and Davidson, 2006, Peptides, 27: 1305-1312, provided evidence from skin peptides that Rana aurora and Rana draytonii are distinct species. Ovaska, Hyatt, and Sopuck, 2002, Herpetol. Rev., 33: 318, discussed the history of introductions in the Queen Charlotte Islands and vicinity, western Canada. Pauly, Ron, and Lerum, 2008, J. Herpetol., 42: 668-679, reported on the phylogeogeography and ecology of these extralimital populations of Rana cascadae, Rana draytonii, and Rana aurora. See statement of geographic range, habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 631. Pauly, Ron, and Lerum, 2008, J. Herpetol., 42: 668-679, reported on molecular phylogeography and demonstrated that Rana aurora and Rana draytonii are not each others' closest relatives.

External Links

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• 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