Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
Single word	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Lithobates spectabilis (Hillis and Frost, 1985)

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

Rana spectabilis Hillis and Frost, 1985, Occas. Pap. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas, 117: 5. Holotype: KU 195186, by original designation. Type locality: "La Estanzuela, Hidalgo, México, elevation 2900 m".

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

Rana (Pantherana) spectabilis — 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 chichicuahutla Cuellar, Méndez-De La Cruz, and Villagrán-Santa Cruz, 1996, Rev. Zool., Mexico, 8: 2. Holotype: IBUNAM unnumbered, by original designation. Type locality: "Lago de Las Minas, about 6 Km SE San Jose Alchichica, Puebla, México, elevation 2324 m". Synonymy by Chambers, Lara-Tufiño, Campillo-García, Cisneros-Bernal, Dudek, León-Regagnon, Townsend, Flores-Villela, and Hillis, 2025, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 122 (19): 6.

Rana (Novirana, Sierrana, Pantherana, Scurrilirana) spectabilis — 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, Sierrana, Pantherana, Scurrilirana) chichicuahutla — 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.

Lithobates spectabilis — 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 chichicuahutla — 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) spectabilis — Dubois, 2006, C. R. Biol., Paris, 329: 830; Dubois, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 325.

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

Rana (Scurrilirana) chichicuahutla — Hillis, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 42: 335-336, by implication.

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

Rana (Pantherana) chichicuahutla — Yuan, Zhou, Chen, Poyarkov, Chen, Jang-Liaw, Chou, Matzke, Iizuka, Min, Kuzmin, Zhang, Cannatella, Hillis, and Che, 2016, Syst. Biol., 65: 835.

Rana spectabilis spectabilis — Chambers, Lara-Tufiño, Campillo-García, Cisneros-Bernal, Dudek, León-Regagnon, Townsend, Flores-Villela, and Hillis, 2025, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 122 (19): 3.

Rana spectabilis chichicuahutla — Chambers, Lara-Tufiño, Campillo-García, Cisneros-Bernal, Dudek, León-Regagnon, Townsend, Flores-Villela, and Hillis, 2025, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 122 (19): 3.

Common Names

Showy Leopard Frog (Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 26; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 109; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 17).

Lago de las Minas Frog (Rana chichicuahutla [no longer recognized]: Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 16).

Distribution

Elevations of 1200–3200 m from central Jalisco aeast through northern Michoacán and the eastern part of the state of México and Morelos, north through Tlaxcala to Queretaro, eastern Hidalgo, and south through central Puebla and a small portion of western Veracruz to the highlands of northwestern Oaxaca, Mexico; Lago de Las Minas, about 6 km southeast of San Jose Alchichica, Puebla, México, elevation 2324 m.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Mexico

Endemic: Mexico

Comment

Adult and larval morphology described in the original publication. In the Rana berlandieri subgroup of the Rana pipiens complex as defined by Hillis, Frost, and Wright, 1983, Syst. Zool., 32: 132–143. In the section Pelophylax, subgenus Pantherana, Rana berlandieri group of Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 331. See map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status (as Rana chichicuahutla) in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 502. López-Mejía and Goyenechea Mayer Goyenechea, 2012, Herpetol. Rev., 43: 300, provided a range extension in Hidalgo, Mexico. Rodríguez-Canseco, Ayón-Escobedo, and González-Estupiñán, 2013, Herpetol. Rev., 44: 622, reported a locality in Jalisco, Mexico, and commented on the range. Rodríguez-Canseco and Quiroz, 2013, Herpetol. Rev., 44: 622, provided a record in Jalisco, Mexico, and commented on the range. García-Padilla and Mata-Silva, 2014, Herpetol. Rev., 45: 468, provided a record for the Municipality of San Pedro Totolapan, Oaxaca, Mexico, and briefly discussed the documented range in that state. Lemos-Espinal and Dixon, 2016, Amph. Rept. Hidalgo: 395–396, provided a brief account and map for Hidalgo, Mexico. Leyte-Manrique, Mata-Silva, Báez-Montes, Fucsko, De Santis, García-Padilla, Rocha, Johnson, Porras, and Wilson, 2022, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 16: 133–180, discussed the range and conservation status in Guanajuato, Mexico. Tepos-Ramírez, Garduño-Fonseca, Peralta-Robles, García-Rubio, and Cervantes Jiménez, 2023, Check List, 19: 269–292, discussed the distribution and conservation status of the species in Queretaro, Mexico. Ballesteros-Barrera, Tapia-Pérez, Leyte-Manrique, Martínez-Bernal , Zárate-Hernández, Vargas-Miranda , Martínez-Coronel, and Ortiz-Burgos, 2026, Climate, 14(114): 1–22, modeled potential distribution modifications under climate change.

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