Lithobates septentrionalis (Baird, 1854)

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

Pelobates Americanus Garnier, 1881, Canad. Sportsman & Nat., 1: 39. Replacement name for Rana circulosa Rice and David, 1878, but only in the sense that Garnier regarded (in current nomenclature) Lithobates circulosa Rice and Davis, 1878, to be conspecific with Aquarana septentrionalis. See discussion by Bauer, 2025, Herpetol. Bibliotheca, 19: 44. 

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; Mendelson, Frost, Lemmon, and Donnelly, 2025, In Nicholson (ed.), Sci. and Standard English Names of Amph. Rept. N. Am, north of Mexico. 9th Edition: 6.

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 (Cooper, 1859, Nat. Hist. Washington Terr.: viii; 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 Hillis and Davis, 1986, Evolution, 40: 1275–1288. 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. 

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