California red-legged frog

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 within the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve in the Simi Hills in eastern Ventura County, near the community of West Hills.[http://www.sfnps.org/download_product/1514/0 Federal Register: "Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: Revised Designation of Critical Habitat for California Red-Legged Frog; Final Rule"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107010151/http://www.sfnps.org/download_product/1514/0 |date=2018-11-07 }} . pg. 3 of pdf . accessed 6.16.2013 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.{{cite news|url=http://www.vcstar.com/news/special/outdoors/gone-for-decades-red-legged-frogs-surviving-in-santa-monica-mountains-ep-1137256960-341750901.html|title=Gone for decades, red-legged frogs surviving in Santa Monica Mountains|first=Cheri |last=Carlson|newspaper=Ventura County Star |date=June 15, 2015 |access-date=5 March 2016}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-07-24/woolsey-fire-red-legged-frog|title=The threatened frogs of the Santa Monica Mountains always had it hard. The Woolsey fire made things much worse|last=DWORETZKY|first=JOE|date=2019-07-25|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-25}}

File:Rana draytonii tadpoles.jpeg

R. draytonii is a moderate to large ({{convert|4.4|–|14|cm|in|abbr=on|disp=or}}) frog. It is the biggest native frog species in the western United States.{{Cite book |last=Garbus |first=Julia |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&u=ucberkeley&id=GALE%7CCX3627500186&v=2.1&it=r |title=U-X-L endangered species: Amphibians, Corals, Fish, Plants, and Reptiles |date=2016 |publisher=Gale |others=Noah Berlatsky, Kathleen J. Edgar, Gale |isbn=978-1-4103-3296-7 |edition=3rd |location=Farmington Hills, Mich. |pages=572–575 |oclc=933889215}} 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 black and red or yellow mottling is in the groin. The lower abdomen and the undersides of its hind legs are normally red. The male can be recognized by its large fore limbs, thumbs, and webbing. Only a portion of the toes are webbed, and it uses vocal sacs to grunt during breeding season. 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.

This species has disappeared from an estimated 70% of its range, and is now only found in about 256 streams or drainages in 28 counties of California.{{cite report |title=Recovery Plan for the California Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora draytonii)|publisher=U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |year=2002 |location=Portland, Oregon |url=http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/020528.pdf |access-date=2013-04-03 }} However, the species is still common along the coast, and most of their population declines are in the Sierra Nevada and Southern California. The California red-legged frog is an important food source for the endangered San Francisco garter snake in San Mateo County. The California newt is often found with this species due to sharing habitat requirements and the newts eating their eggs.{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Rachel B. |date=2019-03-07 |editor-last=De Marco Júnior |editor-first=Paulo |title=Human traffic and habitat complexity are strong predictors for the distribution of a declining amphibian |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=e0213426 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0213426 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=6405065 |pmid=30845170 |bibcode=2019PLoSO..1413426A |doi-access=free }} The California red-legged frog primarily eats earthworms, beetles, flies, and other winged insects. There have been instances where the species was viewed preying on juvenile snakes, small mammals such as mice, and other frogs and tadpoles.{{Cite journal |last1=Bishop |first1=Meghan R. |last2=Drewes |first2=Robert C. |last3=Vredenburg |first3=Vance T. |date=2014 |title=Food Web Linkages Demonstrate Importance of Terrestrial Prey for the Threatened California Red-Legged Frog |journal=Journal of Herpetology |language=en |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=137–143 |doi=10.1670/12-288 |s2cid=86398970 |issn=0022-1511}}

Breeding occurs from late December to early April. The male frog's advertisement call is a series of a few small grunts, usually given while swimming around under water. Choruses are weak and easily missed. The adult California red-legged frog is nocturnal, while juvenile frogs are both nocturnal and active during the daytime. The species inhabits dense, shrubby, or emergent riparian vegetation and still or slow-moving perennial and ephemeral water bodies that also serve as breeding sites. This species has been noted to utilize upland habitats as adults near aquatic areas (such as creeks). They often use these zones for basking and searching for prey.{{Cite journal |last1=Alvarez |first1=Jeff A. |last2=Wilcox |first2=Jeffery T. |date=2021 |title=Observations of Nocturnal Upland Habitat Use by the Rana Draytonii (California Red-Legged Frog), and Implications for Restoration and Other Activities |journal=Ecological Restoration |language=en |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=155–157 |doi=10.3368/er.39.3.155 |s2cid=236970675 |issn=1543-4060}} They prefer tall plants such as cattails for protection and to lay eggs.

The tadpoles (larvae) of this species may metamorphose into frogs within about 7 months of hatching from the egg, or may overwinter, taking up to 13 months.{{cite journal | vauthors = Fellers GM, Launer AE, Rathbun G, Bobzien S, Alvarez J, Sterner D, Seymour RB, Westphal M | year = 2001 | title = Overwintering tadpoles in the California red-legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii) | journal = Herpetological Review | volume = 32 | pages = 156–157|s2cid=81756914}} This is a recent discovery, which may have management implications for the species, particularly when aquatic habitat undergoes modification.

The California red-legged frog exhibits several behaviors when approached by predators. They either stay immobile, quickly leap into vegetation in an upland habitat or a water source nearby, or, rarely, give off an alarm call to indicate danger. They have also been seen demonstrating the unken reflex when caught.{{Cite journal |last1=Alvarez |first1=Jeff A. |last2=Haire |first2=Jennifer L. |date=2021-12-27 |title=Unken Reflex in the California Red-legged Frog Rana draytonii in Western North America |url=https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-southern-california-academy-of-sciences/volume-120/issue-3/0038-3872-120.3.132/Unken-Reflex-in-the-California-Red-legged-Frog-Rana-draytonii/10.3160/0038-3872-120.3.132.full |journal=Bulletin, Southern California Academy of Sciences |volume=120 |issue=3 |pages=132–134 |doi=10.3160/0038-3872-120.3.132 |s2cid=245386391 |issn=0038-3872}}

File:Red-legged-frog-usfws.jpg

File:Rana draytonii egg mass.jpeg

This frog is listed as threatened and is protected by federal and California law. One cause of the population decline is habitat loss and destruction, but introduced predatory species, such as American bullfrogs, might also be a factor. Their habitats are in close proximity to roads and trails, indicating traffic, runoff, pollution, and other human interference may be a significant threat to the species. The species has also been found thriving in undisturbed and isolated ponds in comparison. Vegetation diversity and surface coverage on smaller ponds indicate a greater likelihood of the species being present.

;2006

After years of litigation initiated by land developers' organizations, specifically the Home Builders Association of Northern California, and scientific back-and-forth, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced in April 2006 the designation of about {{convert|450000|acre|km2}} of critical California habitat for the threatened frog. This protected habitat did not include any land in Calaveras County, the setting of Mark Twain's short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", which features this species.

;2008

On September 17, 2008, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to more than triple the habitat of the California red-legged frog, citing political manipulation by former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald at the United States Department of the Interior. According to the Los Angeles Times, "development and destruction of wetlands have eliminated the frogs from more than 70% of their historic range. MacDonald would have reduced what was left of the frog's range by 82%."Cart, Julie (17 September 2008). [https://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-frog17-2008sep17,0,731410.story Room to stretch a frog's red legs.] Los Angeles Times Retrieved 28 April 2023. San Mateo County and Monterey County seem to have some of the largest healthy populations of these frogs, especially in coastal wetlands.{{cite web|url=http://wildequity.org/species/22|title=California Red-Legged Frog|publisher=Wild Equity Institute|access-date=August 29, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305161222/http://wildequity.org/species/22|archive-date=March 5, 2016|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/endspec/espdfs/crlfall.pdf|title=California Red-Legged Frog|year=2002|publisher=California Department of Pesticide Regulation|access-date=August 29, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525070434/http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/endspec/espdfs/crlfall.pdf|archive-date=May 25, 2017|url-status=dead}}

;2010

In March 2010, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced {{convert|1600000|acre|km2}} of protected land for the species throughout California, which has implications regarding development and use of such land.{{cite web|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/03/endangered-california-red-legged-frog-to-receive-large-new-protected-habitat-area-finally.html |title=Endangered California Red-Legged Frog to Receive Large New Protected Habitat Area - Finally|last=Barnett|first=Lindsay |publisher=Latimesblogs.latimes.com |date=16 March 2010|access-date=28 April 2023}}[http://www.fws.gov/sacramento/es/maps/CRF_fCH_FR_maps/crf_fCH_units.htm .PDF Maps of Northern and Southern Protected Ranges via FWS] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513045812/http://www.fws.gov/sacramento/es/maps/CRF_fCH_FR_maps/crf_fCH_units.htm |date=May 13, 2008 }} The largest population of the frog will be given protection on a {{convert|48|acre|ha|adj=mid| stretch of land}} in Placer County.Perlman, David (24 November 2010). [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/24/BAVP1GGICL.DTL Red-legged frogs get 48-acre preserve in Sierra.] — San Francisco Chronicle Retrieved 28 April 2023.

;2015

A new law designates the California red-legged frog the “state amphibian.” Presently, it is subject to protection under both federal and state laws passed in 1996. Although the designation as official state amphibian does not provide legal protection to the frog as a threatened species, it does highlight the importance that California places on the frog's preservation.Assembly Bill 2364 codified as Government Code §422.7. Effective January 1, 2015.
{{cite news |author= |agency=Associated Press |title=California red-legged frog named state amphibian |url=http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/07/07/45210/california-red-legged-frog-named-state-amphibian/ |newspaper=KPCC |date=7 July 2014 |access-date=1 January 2015 |archive-date=28 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428114825/https://www.scpr.org/news/2014/07/07/45210/california-red-legged-frog-named-state-amphibian/ |url-status=dead }}
{{cite news |author= |title=New California laws for 2015: Frogs, drones, Confederate flags |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-new-california-laws-2015-20141230-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=1 January 2015 |access-date=1 January 2015 }}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web |url=http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/Amphibia/Anura/Ranidae/Rana/Rana-draytonii |title=Rana draytonii Baird and Girard, 1852 |last=Frost |first=Darrel R. |year=2018 |work=Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0 |publisher=American Museum of Natural History |access-date=31 December 2018}}

}}

• {{cite journal | last1 = Hillis | first1 = D.M. | last2 = Wilcox | first2 = T.P. | year = 2005 | title = Phylogeny of the New World true frogs (Rana) | journal = Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. | volume = 34 | issue = 2 | pages = 299–314 | doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.007 | pmid = 15619443 | bibcode = 2005MolPE..34..299H | url = http://www.cnah.org/pdf_files/215.pdf | access-date = 2008-03-09 | archive-date = 2008-05-28 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080528131608/http://www.cnah.org/pdf_files/215.pdf | url-status = dead }}
• {{cite journal | last1 = Shaffer |first1 = Bradley H. |last2 = Fellers |first2 = Gary M. |last3 = Voss |first3 = S. Randal |last4 = Oliver |first4 = Jeff |last5 = Pauly |first5 = Greg | year = 2004 | title = Species boundaries, phylogeography, and conservation genetics of the red-legged frog (Rana aurora/draytonii) complex | journal = Molecular Ecology | volume = 13 | issue = 9| pages = 2667–2677 | doi = 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2004.02285.x | pmid = 15315679 |bibcode = 2004MolEc..13.2667B | s2cid = 30926564 }}
• [http://www.werc.usgs.gov/fieldguide/index.htm "A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Coastal Southern California"] — by Robert N. Fisher and Ted J. Case, USGS.
• {{cite journal | last1 = Barry |first1 = Sean J. | last2 = Fellers |first2 = Gary M. | year = 2013 | title = History and Status of the California Red-Legged Frog (Rana draytonii) in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA | url = http://www.herpconbio.org/Volume_8/Issue_2/Barry_Fellers_2013.pdf | journal = Herp. Conser. Biol. | volume = 8 | issue = 2| pages = 456–502 }}

• [http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProjectSubWebPage.aspx?SubWebPageID=34&ProjectID=75&List=SubWebPages&Web=Project_75&Title=A%20Field%20Guide%20to%20the%20Reptiles%20and%20Amphibians%20of%20Coastal%20Southern%20California "A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Coastal Southern California" — Rana draytonii] — article + images.
• [http://www.fws.gov/endangered/features/rl_frog/rlfrog.html U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: California red-legged frog]
• [http://www.sfnps.org/download_product/1514/0 SF-NPS: Rana draytonii (California Red-Legged Frog)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107010151/http://www.sfnps.org/download_product/1514/0 |date=2018-11-07 }} — detailed description and habitats.
• [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/30/AR2006043000400_2.html Washington Post: "Calif. Frog at Center of Protection Debate"]

{{Rana (genus)}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q2117804}}

Category:Rana (genus)

Category:Amphibians of the United States

Category:Amphibians of Mexico

Category:Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands

Category:Fauna of the Sierra Nevada (United States)

Category:Fauna of the Baja California Peninsula

Category:Amphibians described in 1852

Category:ESA threatened species

Category:Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird

Category:Taxa named by Charles Frédéric Girard

Category:Symbols of California