Lithobates (genus)

Lithobates
Vaillant's frog, an undisputed member of genus Lithobates
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Ranidae
Genus:	Rana or Lithobates (disputed, see text)
Subgenus:	Lithobates (if not treated as genus, see text) Fitzinger, 1843
Type species
Rana palmipes Spix, 1824
Species
7 to 50, depending on the definition

7 to 50, depending on the definition

Lithobates is a subgenus or genus of true frogs, of the family Ranidae. The name is derived from (stone) and the Greek bates (βάτης, one that treads), meaning one that treads on rock, or rock climber.

The name was defined by Hillis and Wilcox (2005) for a subgenus of four Central and South American frogs within the genus Rana: The subgenus was subsequently expanded to seven species in Central and South America in a systematic revision of the genus Rana. The name was previously used by Frost et al. as a separate genus of ranid frogs that included most of the North American frogs traditionally included in the genus Rana, including the American bullfrog and northern leopard frog. Frost used the name in this sense in the frog section of a North American common names list edited by Crother (2008). This proposed change has since been rejected by others, such as Stuart (2008), Pauly et al. (2009), AmphibiaWeb, and Yuan et al. (2016). AmphibiaWeb, available at http://amphibiaweb.org/, an online compendium of amphibian names, follows Yuan et al. (2016) in recognizing Lithobates as a subgenus. On the other hand, Amphibian Species of the World 6.0, an online reference, uses Lithobates as a genus. This definition is also followed by, e.g., the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.

Following the narrowest definition of Lithobates as a subgenus (Neotropical true frogs), this taxon contains these species:

Following the Amphibian Species of the World, the genus Lithobates ([North] American water frogs, North American true frogs) contains these species:

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