California red-legged frog
| California red-legged frog Rana draytonii |
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| Rana draytonii | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Ranidae |
| Genus: | Rana |
| Species: | R. draytonii |
| Binomial name | |
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Rana draytonii Baird & Girard, 1852 |
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| Synonyms | |
Rana aurora draytonii Baird & Girard, 1852
The California red legged frog (Rana draytonii) is a species of frog that is now endemic to California. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora). The frog is an IUCN vulnerable species, and a federally listed threatened species of the United States, and is protected by law.
The California red-legged frog is found in California and extreme northern Baja California, northwestern Mexico. This species now occurs most commonly along the northern and southern Coast Ranges, and in isolated areas in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The current southernmost California populations are on the Santa Rosa Plateau in Riverside County; and in East Las Virgenes Creek, within the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve in the Simi Hills in eastern Ventura County, near the community of West Hills. In 2015, egg masses from the nearby Simi Hills were introduced to two streams in the Santa Monica Mountains. Juvenile frogs were found living at the locations a year later.
Rana draytonii is a moderate to large (4.4–14 centimetres (1.7–5.5 in)) frog. The back is a brown, grey, olive, or reddish color, with black flecks and dark, irregular, light-centered blotches, and is coarsely granular. A dark mask with a whitish border occurs above the upper jaw, and there is black and red or yellow mottling in the groin. The lower abdomen and the undersides of its hind legs are normally red. The male can be recognized by its large forelimbs, thumbs, and webbing. The juvenile frog has more pronounced dorsal spotting, and may have yellow, instead of red, markings on the undersides of the hind legs. A characteristic feature of the red-legged frog is its dorsolateral fold, visible on both sides of the frog, extending roughly from the eye to the hip. R. draytonii looks very similar to the northern red-legged frog.
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Wikipedia