Lithobates maculatus (Brocchi, 1877)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ranidae > Genus: Lithobates > Species: Lithobates maculatus

Rana maculata Brocchi, 1877, Bull. Soc. Philomath., Paris, Ser. 7, 1: 178. Syntypes: MNHNP 6412, 6412A, 6412B; MNHNP 6412A designated lectotype by Smith, Lynch, and Reese, 1966, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 23: 171. Type locality: "Totonicapam (Mexique)" = Totonicapan, Guatemala. Preoccupied by Rana maculata Daudin in Sonnini de Manoncourt and Latreille, 1801 "An. X", Hist. Nat. Rept., 2: 161; Daudin, 1802 "An. XI", Hist. Nat. Rain. Gren. Crap., Quarto: 57; Daudin, 1803 "An. XI", Hist. Nat. Gen. Part. Rept., 8: 111. A nomen protectum under Art. 23.9 (International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 1999); see Rana maculata Daudin, 1801, a nomen oblitum under this same rule.

Rana melanosoma Günther, 1900, Biol. Centr. Amer., Rept. Batr., Vol. 7, Part 153: 203. Syntypes: BMNH 1947.2.2.14–16 (formerly 1894.7.26.53–55) according to museum records. Type localities: "Guatemala, Dueñas . . . ; Nicaragua, Hacienda Rosa de Jericho, 3250 feet". Synonymy with Rana palmipes by Boulenger, 1901, Zool. Rec., 37: 27; Taylor, 1952, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 35: 908. Synonym with Rana maculata by Hillis and de Sá, 1988, Herpetol. Monogr., 2: 9.

Rana maculata maculataSmith, 1959, Herpetologica, 15: 215.

Rana maculata krukoffi Smith, 1959, Herpetologica, 15: 215. Holotype: UIMNH 10526, by original designation. Type locality: "Finca Juárez, 7 leagues NE Escuintla, Chiapas", Mexico.

Rana (Rana) maculataDubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 41–42, by implication.

Rana (Sierrana) maculataDubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 330.

Rana (Novirana, Sierrana, Ranula, Levirana) maculataHillis and Wilcox, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 34: 305. See Dubois, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 317–330, Hillis, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 331–338, and Dubois, 2007, Cladistics, 23: 390–402, for relevant discussion of nomenclature. Invalid name formulation under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999) as discussed by Dubois, 2007, Cladistics, 23: 395.

Lithobates maculatusFrost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 369. Che, Pang, Zhao, Wu, Zhao, and Zhang, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 43: 1–13, by implication.

Lithobates (Lithobates) melanosomaDubois, 2006, C. R. Biol., Paris, 329: 829; Dubois, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 325.

Rana (Levirana) maculataHillis, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 335–336, by implication.

Lithobates maculateLiner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 16. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Rana (Lithobates) maculata — Yuan, Zhou, Chen, Poyarkov, Chen, Jang-Liaw, Chou, Matzke, Iizuka, Min, Kuzmin, Zhang, Cannatella, Hillis, and Che, 2016, Syst. Biol., 65: 835.

English Names

Highland Frog (Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 27; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 108).

Masked Mountain Frog (Campbell, 1998, Amph. Rept. N. Guatemala Yucatan Belize: 95; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 16).

Distribution

Moderate to high elevations (800–2700 m) from eastern Oaxaca (east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec), Mexico, south and east to central Nicaragua.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua

Comment

In the Rana (Sierrana) maculata group of Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 330. In the Rana palmipes group as defined by by Hillis and de Sá, 1988, Herpetol. Monogr., 2: 1–26, who discussed the nomenclatural problems with this taxon and who noted that records of this species from lowland areas of Nicaragua are based on misidentified specimens of Rana vaillanti. See comment under Rana macroglossa. See accounts by Campbell, 1998, Amph. Rept. N. Guatemala Yucatan Belize: 95, Savage, 2002, Amph. Rept. Costa Rica: 401 (who discussed confusion with Rana taylori), and McCranie and Wilson, 2002, Amph. Honduras: 485–490. Köhler, Veselý, and Greenbaum, 2005 "2006", Amph. Rept. El Salvador: 68–70, provided an account (as Rana maculata, and for El Salvador) and a color photograph. McCranie, 2007, Herpetol. Rev., 38: 38, summarized the departmental distribution in Honduras. Köhler, 2011, Amph. Cent. Am.: 291–295, provided a brief summary of natural history and identification key for the species of Lithobates in Central America and provided a range map and photograph for this species. Coelho, Camurugi, and Garda, 2023, Organisms Divers. Evol., 23: 967–981, reported on niche divergence, phylogenetics, and biogeography as part of the Lithobates palmipes group (as the Rana palmipes group). Martínez-Fonseca, Holmes, Sunyer, Westeen, Grundler, Cerda, Fernández-Mena, Loza-Molina, Monagan, Nondorf, Pandelis, and Rabosky, 2024, Check List, 20: 74–76, provided and discussed a record from Las Brisas del Mogotón, Departamento Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua.

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