Lithobates fisheri (Stejneger, 1893)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ranidae > Genus: Lithobates > Species: Lithobates fisheri

Rana fisheri Stejneger, 1893, N. Am. Fauna, 7: 227. Holotype: USNM 18957, according to Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 73. Type locality: "Vegas Valley, [Clark County,] Nevada", USA.

Rana pipiens fisheri — Stebbins, 1951, Amph. W. North Am.: 365).

Rana onca fisheri — Stebbins, 1985, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 2: 91, by implication; Stebbins, 2003, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 3: 238. See comment.

Rana (Rana) fisheri — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 41–42, by implication.

Rana (Pantherana) fisheri — Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 331; Yuan, Zhou, Chen, Poyarkov, Chen, Jang-Liaw, Chou, Matzke, Iizuka, Min, Kuzmin, Zhang, Cannatella, Hillis, and Che, 2016, Syst. Biol., 65: 835.

Rana (Novirana, Sierrana, Pantherana, Stertirana, Lacusirana) fisheri — Hillis and Wilcox, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 34: 312. 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) fisheri — Hillis and Wilcox, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 34: 312. Nomenclatural act as interpreted by Fouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 415. 

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

Rana (Lacusirana) fisheri — Hillis, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 335–336, by implication.

Rana (Lithobates) fisheri — Fouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 415. 

Common Names

Vegas Valley Leopard Frog (Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 83; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 177; Stebbins, 1966, Field Guide W. North Am. Rept. Amph.: 76; Frost, McDiarmid, and Mendelson, 2008, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 37: 8; Frost, McDiarmid, Mendelson, and Green, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 17; Frost, Lemmon, McDiarmid, and Mendelson, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 14).

Vegas Valley Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 107; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 14).

Distribution

Extinct at the type locality (Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA), but populations along the Mogollon Rim in Arizona to west-southwestern New Mexico persist.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: United States of America, United States of America - Arizona, United States of America - Nevada, United States of America - New Mexico

Endemic: United States of America

Comment

Confused with Rana onca in recent literature until sorted by Jaeger, Riddle, Jennings, and Bradford, 2001, Copeia, 2001: 339–351. Extinct since the 1940's in the Las Vegas area (see Honegger, 1981, Biol. Conserv., 19: 142). See Platz, 1984, Status report for Rana onca Cope, U.S. Fish Wildlife Serv.. Included in the Rana (Pantherana) berlandieri group by Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 331 (although the holotype is clearly a member of the Rana montezumae group—DRF, personal observation). Hillis and Wilcox, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 34: 308, suggested that extant populations of Lithobates chiricahuensis from Mogollon Rim region of central Arizona were likely referable to Lithobates fisheri. See map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 139, who regarded the species as extinct. Hekkala, Saumure, Jaeger, Herrmann, Sredl, Bradford, Drabeck, and Blum, 2011, Conserv. Genetics, 12: 1379–1385, provided genetic evidence that the populations found in central Arizona to western New Mexico were attributable to this species. Jennings, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 554–555, provided a detailed account of Rana fisheri in the sense of only referring to the Vegas Valley population, which is now extinct.  Dodd, 2013, Frogs U.S. and Canada, 2 : 547–551, provided an account that summarized relevant literature.  

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