Leptodactylus fuscus (Schneider, 1799)

Common Names

Rufous Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 81).

Fuscous Foam Frog (Eterovick and Sazima, 2004, Anf. Serra do Cipó: 89).

Lineated Frog (Rana virginica [no longer recognized]: Shaw, 1802, Gen. Zool., 3(1): 110).

South American White-lipped Grassfrog (Hedges, Powell, Henderson, Hanson, and Murphy, 2019, Caribb. Herpetol., 67: 14). 

Lineated Frog (Batista, Hertz, Ponce, and Lotzkat, 2020, Herpetol. Notes, 13: 221).

Distribution

Savannas from Coclé and Herrera Provinces of Panama east through northern and northern Amazonian Colombia, Venezuela, and the Guianas, as well as Amapá and Pernambuco, Brazil, and Trinidad and Tobago; northern Bení and La Paz, Bolivia. Except as noted, records south of the Amazon apply to an unnamed species in the same group or to Leptodactylus gualambensis (see comments). 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela

Likely/Controversially Present: Peru

Comment

 Brusquetti, Bueno-Villafañe, Caballero-Gini, Pinheiro, Netto, Burgos-Gallardo, Fernández Ríos, Bernabé Cardozo, and Baldo, 2025, Vert. Zool., Senckenberg, 75: 325–352, redelimited the species into three, Leptodactylus fuscus (this record), Leptodactylus gualambensis (central and western Paraguay and northern Argentina to eastern Bolivia and southern Mato Grosso and southwestern Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil), Leptodactylus aff. fuscus (Brazil south of the Amazon south to southern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina). Rosa, Lingnau, and Garey, 2025, ZooKeys, 1264: 109–128, provided records from Iguaçu Nacional Park, Paraná, Brazil. Verrastro and Borges-Martins, 2025, Anf. Rept. Pampa, 2: 76, provided a brief account (as Leptodactylus fuscus), photograph, and dot distribution map for the Pampa biome in Brazil (as well as adjacent areas of Argentina and Paraguay).

Comment from before the partition (prior to 21 October 2025), provided below. Use with caution: 

  Straughan and Heyer, 1976, Pap. Avulsos Zool., São Paulo, 29: 221–245, reported on the advertisement call. In the Leptodactylus fuscus group of Heyer, 1978, Sci. Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 29: 1–85. See synonymy in Hoogmoed and Gruber, 1983, Spixiana, München, Suppl., 9: 356. See account by Cei, 1980, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Monogr., 2: 333–336. Rana fusca Schneider, 1799, Hist. Amph. Nat.: 138, is a secondary homonym of Rana fusca—Meyer, 1795, Synops. Rept. Nov. Sist. Gen. Method.: 10 (= Bufo fuscus Laurenti, 1768 [= Pelobates fuscus]). See account by Heyer, Rand, Cruz, Peixoto, and Nelson, 1990, Arq. Zool., São Paulo, 31: 308–309. Lescure and Marty, 2000, Collect. Patrimoines Nat., Paris, 45: 232–233, provided a photo and brief account for French Guiana. Wynn and Heyer, 2002 "2001", Tropical Zool., 14: 255–285, reported on allozymic variation and suggested that this taxon is composed of at least three (and maybe more) species: a) Trinidad-Tobago-French Guiana; b) Panama; c) south of the Amazon. Márquez, De la Riva, and Bosch, 1995, J. Zool., London, 237: 313–336, reported on vocalization in Bolivia. Izecksohn and Carvalho-e-Silva, 2001, Anf. Municipio Rio de Janeiro: 74, provided a brief account and photo. See comments regarding distribution in Venezuela by Gorzula and Señaris Vasquez, 1999 "1998", Scient. Guaianae, 8: 56–57. Heyer and Reid, 2003, An. Acad. Brasil. Cienc., 75: 39–54, noted strong genetic differentiation among populations was not accompanied by congruent geographic patterns of advertisement call variation. Kenny, 1969, Stud. Fauna Curaçao and other Caribb. Is., 29: 70–72, and Murphy, 1997, Amph. Rept. Trinidad Tobago: 85–86, provided accounts for Trinidad and Tobago. Lynch, 2006, Rev. Acad. Colomb. Cienc. Exact. Fis. Nat., 30: 443–457, described larval morphology. Canelas and Bertoluci, 2007, Iheringia, Zool., 97: 21–26, provided a record for the Serra do Caraça, southern end of the Serra do Espinhaço, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Brusquetti and Lavilla, 2006, Cuad. Herpetol., 20: 13, briefly discussed range in Paraguay. Fouquet, Gilles, Vences, Marty, Blanc, and Gemmell, 2007, PLoS One, 10 (e1109): 1–10, provided molecular evidence that this is a species complex. Ponssa, 2008, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 46: 249–266. Eterovick and Sazima, 2004, Anf. Serra do Cipó: 89–90, provided a photograph and brief account. Silva, Santos, Alves, Sousa, and Annunziata, 2010, Sitientibus, Ser. Cienc. Biol., 7: 334–340, provided records for Piauí, Brazil. Ugueto and Rivas-Fuenmayor, 2010, Amph. Rep. Margarita Coche Cubagua: 80–83, provided an account for the population on the Venezuelan island of Margarita. Jansen, Bloch, Schulze, and Pfenninger, 2011, Zool. Scripta, 40: 567–583, suggested on the basis of molecular evidence the possibility of a cryptic species in Bolivia. See account for Suriname population by Ouboter and Jairam, 2012, Amph. Suriname: 228–230.See Cole, Townsend, Reynolds, MacCulloch, and Lathrop, 2013, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 125: 422–423, for brief account and records for Guyana. Köhler, 2011, Amph. Cent. Am.: 276–281, provided a brief summary of natural history and identification key for the species of Leptodactylus in Central America and provided a range map and photograph for this species. In the Leptodactylus fuscus species group of de Sá, Grant, Camargo, Heyer, Ponssa, and Stanley, 2014, S. Am. J. Herpetol., 9(Spec. Issue 1): 1–123, who provided a summary of the relevant literature (adult and larval morphology, identification, advertisement call, and range) of this species on pp. 32–33. Melo-Sampaio, 2015, Herpetol. Rev., 46: 212–213, who provided a record for Municipality of Taraucá, Acre, Brazil. Palacio Baena, Muñoz Escobar, Gallo Delgado, and Rivera-Correa, 2006, Anfibios y Reptiles del Valle de Aburrá: 87–89, provided a brief account and photograph. Schulze, Jansen, and Köhler, 2015, Zootaxa, 4016: 74–75, described, diagnosed, and pictured the larva of their lineage Leptodactylus fuscus A. Guarnizo, Paz, Muñoz-Ortiz, Flechas-Hernández, Méndez-Narváez, and Crawford, 2016, PLoS One, 10(5: e0127312): 1–20, suggested on the basis of molecular evidence that two species may exist in Colombia under this binomial. Zimmerman, 1983, Herpetologica, 39: 235–246, reported on advertisement call. Weiler, Núñez, Airaldi, Lavilla, Peris, and Baldo, 2013, Anf. Paraguay: 92, provided a brief account, image, and dot map for Paraguay. Señaris Vasquez, Lampo, Rojas-Runjaic, and Barrio-Amorós, 2014, Guía Ilust. Anf. Parque Nac. Canaima: 204–205, provided a photograph and a brief account for the Parque Nacional de Canaima, Venezuela. Acosta-Galvis, 2017, Biota Colomb., 18: 282–315, reported the species from the Municipality of Yopal, Casanare Department, Colombia. Freitas, Abegg, Dias, and Moraes, 2018, Herpetol. Notes, 11: 59–72, provided a record from the Serra da Jibóia, Bahia, Brazil. Lima, Pederassi, Pineschi, and Barbosa, 2019, Brazil. J. Biol., 79: 566–576, reported on the advertisement call from Piauí, Brazil. Neves, Yves, Pereira Silva, Alves, Vasques, Coelho, and Silva, 2019, Herpetozoa, Wien, 32: 113–123, provided habitat information and records for western Minas Gerais, Brazil. See Barrio-Amorós, Rojas-Runjaic, and Señaris Vasquez, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (1: e180): 91, for comments on range and literature. See brief comments on range and natural history in Panama by Batista, Hertz, Ponce, and Lotzkat, 2020, Herpetol. Notes, 13: 219–229. Dubeux, Silva, Nascimento, Gonçalves, and Mott, 2019, Rev. Nordestina Zool., 12: 18–52, summarized the literature on larval morphology. Rossa-Feres and Nomura, 2006 "2005", Biota Neotrop., São Paulo, 6 (2: bn00706012006): 1–24, characterized larval morphology of this species and provided a key to the larvae of northwestern São Paulo state, Brazil. See Dubeux, Nascimento, Lima, Magalhães, Silva, Gonçalves, Almeida, Correia, Garda, Mesquita, Rossa-Feres, and Mott, 2020, Biota Neotrop., 20 (2: e20180718): 1–24, for characterization and identification of larvae north of the Rio São Francisco in the Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil. Vaz-Silva, Maciel, Nomura, Morais, Guerra Batista, Santos, Andrade, Oliveira, Brandão, and Bastos, 2020, Guia Ident. Anf. Goiás e Dist. Fed. Brasil Central: 111–112, provided an account. Eterovick, Souza, and Sazima, 2020, Anf. Serra do Cipó: 1–292, provided an account, life history information, and an identification scheme for the Serra de Cipó, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Alves-Ferreira, Paixão, and Nomura, 2021, Biota Neotrop., 21 (4: e20201178): 1–11, reported on larval morphology in Goias, Brazil. Reported from the Environmental Protection Area of Catolé and Fernão Velho, Alagoas, Brazil, by Dubeux, Nascimento, Gonçalves, and Mott, 2021, Pap. Avulsos Zool., São Paulo, 61 (e20216176): 1–10, who provided a key to the frogs of that region. Pezzuti, Leite, Rossa-Feres, and Garcia, 2021, S. Am. J. Herpetol., 22 (Special Issue): 1–109, described and discussed larval morphology and natural history. Palmeira, Gonçalves, Dubeux, Lima, Lambertini, Valencia-Aguilar, Jenkinson, James, Toledo, and Mott, 2022, Cuad. Herpetol., 36: 65–75, reported on habitat in Natural Heritage Reserve Mata Estrela, Baía Formosa, Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil. Bastos and Zina, 2022, Herpetol. Notes, 15: 365–376, reported the species from Jequié municipality, Bahia, Brazil, and briefly discussed its habitat and conservation status. Taucce, Costa-Campos, Carvalho, and Michalski, 2022, Eur. J. Taxon., 836: 96–130, reported on distribution, literature, and conservation status for Amapá, Brazil. Santos, Feio, and Nomura, 2023, Biota Neotrop., 23 (3:e20231486): 1–43, characterized tadpole morphology as part of an identification key to the tadpoles of the Brazilian Cerrado. Dubeux, Lisboa, Nascimento, Araujo, Tiburcio, Torquato da Silva, Freitas, Guarnieri, and Mott, 2024, Stud. Neotrop. Fauna Environ., 59: 967–982, reported the species from Estação Ecológica de Murici, Alagoas state, Brazil, and discussed its habitat. Vicente-Ferreira, Nascimento, Batista, Kardush, Reyes, and Garey, 2024, Biota Neotrop., 24(1: e20231526): 1–17, provided records from the Refúgio Biológico Bela Vista, Paraná, southern Brazil (adjacent to the Paraguay border), as well as providing identification keys to these species based on larval and adult morphology. Ocampo, Aparicio, Bernal Hoverud, Domic, and Wallace, 2024, Herpetol. Notes, 17: 371–389, reported the species and its habitat in Madidi National Park, La Paz, Bolivia. Rivas, Wallace, and Callapa, 2025, Reptiles & Amphibians, 32(e21473): 1–10, reported the species from the Great Tectonic Lakes of Exaltación region, Beni, Bolivia. Núñez, Zárate-Betzel, Ortíz, Salinas, Piris da Motta, Mendoza, and Duré, 2026, Rev. Soc. Cient. Paraguay, 31(e3101): 1–12, reported briefly on the distribution in wetlands within the Department of Ñeembucú, Paraguay.     

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