pickerel frog

LC - Least Concern

N5 - Secure

S4 - Apparently Secure

not listed

Species in Greatest Conservation Need

Pickerel frog is a medium-sized true frog. It is the only poisonous frog native to North America. It occurs in the United States from Maine to northern Georgia, west to eastern Minnesota and eastern Texas, and in Canada in southern Quebec and southern Ontario. It is found from April to late October in cool clear streams in heavily wooded areas, in grassy or weed-covered openings near streams, in seeps, and in springs.

Adults are 1¾″ to 3″ (45 to 75 mm) in length. Females tend to be larger and darker than males.

The upper side is gray or tan. The skin is smooth. Prominent pale folds on each side of the back (dorsolateral folds) extend from the head to near the vent. Between the folds there are two rows of squarish or rectangular brown spots and sometimes one or more spots between the rows. Two adjacent spots in a row may merge, creating a single long spot. There are similar blotches on the sides.

The belly and throat are white.

There is a pale stripe on the upper lip.

The hind legs have dark horizontal bands. The inside of each thigh and the area on the side of the body that it conceals have a bright yellow wash. The front toes are not webbed.

2″ to 3″ (50 to 75 mm)

A quiet, low-pitched, snore-like croak

Streams in heavily wooded areas, openings near streams, seeps, and springs

To deter predators, it can secrete a toxic chemical that can be mildly irritating to humans and fatal to some frogs.

5 to 7 years

Eggs are attached to aquatic vegetation under water.

Insects, spiders, and other invertebrates

Sources

4, 6, 14, 24, 29, 30, 60, 73, 76, 78.

Rare in Minnesota

Genus
In 2006 most North American true frogs were transferred from the genus Rana to the genus Lithobates by Frost et al. The change was controversial and was not accepted by all authorities. In 2008 and 2009 the change was rejected by Stuart, Pauly et al., and by other systematic reviews. In 2016, a consortium of Rana researchers from Europe, Asia, and North America showed that transferring the species to Lithobates caused problems of paraphyly in other genera. In that same year, Yuan et al. returned all North American true frogs to the genus Rana, using subgenera for all of the well-defined species groups within Rana.

Species
Most sources, including GBIF, ITIS, NatureServe, iNaturalist, and Amphibian Species of the World, use the name Lithobates palustris. A few, including NCBI, UniProt, and AmphibiaWeb, use the name Rana palustris. AmphibiaWeb suggests using the original name followed by the subgenus name in parentheses, in this case Rana (Pantherana) palustris.

Location: Winona County