Aquarana septentrionalis (Baird, 1854)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ranidae > Genus: Aquarana > Species: Aquarana septentrionalis

Rana septentrionalis Baird, 1854, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 7: 61. Type(s): Not stated; presumably USNM, ANSP, or Philadelphia Mus. Type locality: "Northern Minnesota"; restricted to "Lake Itasca", Clearwater County, Minnesota, USA, by Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 80. Fouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 423, regarded the original publication date to be 1856, but see Fox, 1913, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Index, 1812–1912: vii–xiv.

Rana sinuata Baird, 1854, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 7: 61. Syntypes: Not stated; USNM 3420 (5 specimens) according to Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 76. Type locality: "Sackett's Harbor, [Jefferson County,] N[ew]. Y[ork].", USA. Synonymy by Cope, 1875, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 1: 32; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 37.

Rana (Rana) septentrionalis — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 41, by implication.

Rana (Aquarana) septentrionalis — Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 331.

Rana (Novirana, Aquarana) septentrionalis — Hillis and Wilcox, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 34: 305. See Dubois, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 317–330, Hillis, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 331–338, and Dubois, 2007, Cladistics, 23: 390–402, for relevant discussion of nomenclature. Invalid name formulation under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999) as discussed by Dubois, 2007, Cladistics, 23: 395.

Rana (Novirana) septentrionalis — Hillis and Wilcox, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 34: 305. Interpretation by Fouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 423, of the nomenclatural act of Hillis and Wilcox, 2005. 

Lithobates septentrionalis — Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 369; Che, Pang, Zhao, Wu, Zhao, and Zhang, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 43: 1–13; by implication.

Lithobates (Aquarana) septentrionalis — Dubois, 2006, C. R. Biol., Paris, 329: 829; Dubois, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 325.

Rana (Aquarana) septentrionalis — Hillis, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 335–336, by implication and for purposes of discussion; Yuan, Zhou, Chen, Poyarkov, Chen, Jang-Liaw, Chou, Matzke, Iizuka, Min, Kuzmin, Zhang, Cannatella, Hillis, and Che, 2016, Syst. Biol., 65: 835. 

Rana (Lithobates) septentrionalis — Fouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 423. 

Aquarana septentrionalis — Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 424. 

Common Names

Rocky Mountain Frog (Yarrow, 1882, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 24: 25).

Northern Frog (Dickerson, 1906, The Frog Book: 224).

Mink Frog (Wright and Wright, 1933, Handb. Frogs Toads U.S. Canada: xi; Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 80; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 177; Conant, 1975, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. Cent. N. Am., Ed. 2: 342; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 13; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 109; 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: 15; Frost, McDiarmid, and Mendelson, 2008, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 37: 8; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 8; Frost, McDiarmid, Mendelson, and Green, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 18; Frost, Lemmon, McDiarmid, and Mendelson, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 15).

Distribution

Southwestern Newfoundland west to southeastern Manitoba (Canada), south to northern New York on the east and Wisconsin and northern Minnesota on the west (USA).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Canada, United States of America, United States of America - Maine, United States of America - Michigan, United States of America - Minnesota, United States of America - New Hampshire, United States of America - New York, United States of America - Vermont, United States of America - Wisconsin

Comment

In the Rana catesbeiana group of XXX. In the equivalent Rana clamitans group of Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 41, and in the equivalent subgenus Aquarana of Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 331. Reviewed by Hedeen, 1977, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 202: 1–2. Dodd, 2013, Frogs U.S. and Canada, 2 : 608–617, provided an account that summarized relevant literature. Elliot, Gerhardt, and Davidson, 2009, Frogs and Toads of N. Am.: 196–197, provided an account, photos, and advertisement call. Altig and McDiarmid, 2015, Handb. Larval Amph. US and Canada: 236–237, provided an account of larval morphology and biology. Bevier, Lambert, Arietta, and Persons, 2022, Ichthyol. & Herpetol., 110: 495–501, reported on morphology from fertilization to metamorphosis, including images of the larvae. 

External links:

Please note: these links will take you to external websites not affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History. We are not responsible for their content.