Amerana boylii (Baird, 1854)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ranidae > Genus: Amerana > Species: Amerana boylii

Rana boylii Baird, 1854, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 7: 62. Syntypes: Not stated; USNM 3370 (2 specimens) according to Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 72. Type locality: "California (interior)"; corrected to El Dorado, California [USA] by Cope, 1889, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 34: 447; syntypes from El Dorado County, California, USA, according to Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 72. Type locality restricted to "vicinity of Coloma, along the South Fork of the American River, El Dorado County", California, USA by Jennings, 1988 "1987", Wasmann J. Biol., 45: 59. Fouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 392, regarded the original publication date to be 1856, but see Fox, 1913, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Index, 1812–1912: vii–xiv.

Rana pachyderma Cope, 1883, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 35: 25. Syntypes: (5 specimens noted) ANSP 14569-70 (Ashland) and 14571-75 (McCloud River), according to XXX; Malnate, 1971, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 123: 351, noted ANSP 14570-71 and wrote that the Oregon specimens had not been found. Type localities: "McCould River" [= Baird, Shasta county, California, USA] and "Ashland [Jackson County] at the northern base of the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon", USA. Synonymy by Cope, 1889, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 34: 444.

Rana boylii boylii — Camp, 1917, Univ. California Publ. Zool., 17: 117.

Rana boylei — Zweifel, 1955, Univ. California Publ. Zool., 54: 207-292. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Rana (Rana) boylii — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 41; Fouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 392.

Rana (Amerana) boylii — Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 322; Dubois, 2006, C. R. Biol., Paris, 329: 830; Fouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 392; Yuan, Zhou, Chen, Poyarkov, Chen, Jang-Liaw, Chou, Matzke, Iizuka, Min, Kuzmin, Zhang, Cannatella, Hillis, and Che, 2016, Syst. Biol., 65: 835.

Rana (Laurasiarana, Amerana) boylii — Hillis and Wilcox, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 34: 311, by implication; see Dubois, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 317-330, and Hillis, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 331-338, for discussion. Invalid name formulation under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999) as discussed by Dubois, 2007, Cladistics, 23: 395.

Amerana boylii — Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Herpetol. Sinica, 12: 37; Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 424. 

Common Names

Boyle's Frog (Cooper, 1873, Proc. California Acad. Sci., 4: 64). 

Yellow-legged Frog (Rana boylii: Dickerson, 1906, The Frog Book: 221; Stebbins, 1951, Amph. W. North Am.: 339; Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 84; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 176),

Foothill Yellow-legged Frog (Rana boylii: Stebbins, 1966, Field Guide W. North Am. Rept. Amph.: 73; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 12; Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 27; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 106; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 13; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 14; Stebbins, 2003, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 3: 231; Frost, McDiarmid, and Mendelson, 2008, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 37: 11; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 21; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 9; Frost, McDiarmid, Mendelson, and Green, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 20; Frost, Lemmon, McDiarmid, and Mendelson, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 19).

California Yellow-legged Frog (Rana boylii boylii [no longer recognized]: Grinnell and Storer, 1924, Animal Life in the Yosemite: 663; Slevin, 1928, Occas. Pap. California Acad. Sci., 16: 136; Wright and Wright, 1933, Handb. Frogs Toads U.S. Canada: xi; Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 84; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 176).

Distribution

From western Oregon south through California in coastal foothills and mountains to Los Angeles County, USA; isolated record in northern Baja California, Mexico. Now extinct in much of western Oregon and the southern populations in California.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Mexico, United States of America, United States of America - California, United States of America - Oregon

Comment

See Zweifel, 1955, Univ. California Publ. Zool., 54: 207-292, and Zweifel, 1968, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 71: 1-2, for review (as Rana boylii). In the Rana boylii group of North American authors. In the Rana aurora group of Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 42, in the equivalent Section Amerana, subgenus Amerana of Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 322. (Although Amerana was shown by Hillis and Wilcox, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 34: 305, to be polyphyletic.) Grismer, 2002, Amph. Rept. Baja California: 82, discussed the Baja California, Mexico, record. Stebbins, 2003, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 3: 231-232, provided a brief account, figure, and map (and who commented on the disappearance of this species from large areas of its former distribution). See statement of geographic range, habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 631. Fellers, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 534–536, and Dodd, 2013, Frogs U.S. and Canada, 2 : 697–707, provided accounts that summarized relevant literature. Elliot, Gerhardt, and Davidson, 2009, Frogs and Toads of N. Am.: 248–249, provided an account, photos, and advertisement call. Altig and McDiarmid, 2015, Handb. Larval Amph. US and Canada: 242–243, provided an account (as Rana boylii) of larval morphology and biology.  

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