Rana sphenocephala common name is southern leopard frog.  Rana means, “true frog,” and sphenocephala means, “wedge headed.” This frog lives in the southeastern part of North America. They are usually brown or green with black or dark blotches on their backs. They have a defined characteristic which is there a large dorsolateral ridge on their back.  R. sphenocephala will feed on bugs, insects, smaller frogs or larvae. They are also aquatic amphibians but can be away from water for an amount of time without having to return.

 

R. sphenocephala have a raised dorsolateral ridge on there back going from the back of there eyes to the hip.  They are slim frogs with long legs and sharply pointed heads. They also have a lack of digital pads on their toes.  The average adult size for the southern leopard frogs is 2-3.5inches long.  Male R. sphenocephala are smaller than female leopard frogs but the males have paired vocal sacs and enlarged thumbs and forearms.

 

Rana sphenocephala play a big role in the food web. By allowing birds, river otters, many species of snakes, and larger fish to pray on them they in return can eat smaller frogs, insects, and larvae. The predators of the Rana sphenocephala are Raccoons, Virginia opossum, large fish, snakes, turtles, large frogs, and great blue Herons.  Great Blue Herons, river otters, grackles, southern water snakes, brown water snakes, northern black snakes, peninsular ribbon snakes, water moccasins, and humans also eat southern leopard frogs with human mostly eating them for their legs. Southern leopard frogs eat insects, algae, plant, smaller frogs, and smaller invertebrates.

 

The habitat of a Rana sphenocephala is always near freshwater. In summer they live in moist vegetation 1 to 5km. From the water. New Jersey, the coastal plains of Florida, North Carolina, Kentucky, southern Indiana, eastern Iowa, eastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas is where southern leopard frogs are found.  The southern leopard frog may be found in your home pond or relocating in your wet yard during the summer if you live in the southeastern part of North America.

 

To reproduce the southern leopard frog uses sexual reproduction. Male and female Rana sphenocephala can reproduce in any month of the year except July and August. Rain usually in spring or fall, mostly initiates males to use the mating call to attract females. Breeding happens in fall, winter, or early spring. Female R. sphenocephala can have 1,200 to 5,000 eggs per laying with 91 to 100% surviving. The female leaves the eggs in shallow water usually around vegetation. In Florida, it takes 4 to 5 days to hatch and in Missouri less than 2 weeks. For tadpoles to metamorphose it takes 50 to 75 days, usually from April to October.

 

The Rana sphenocephala has a stable amount of frogs in its population. Even though there has been a drastic decline of amphibians throughout the past few years, the southern leopard frog has not contributed as much to this decline as much as most frogs have. As much as half of its population has been erased due to acid rain and climate change. The United States has contributed to the low genetic variations resulting with the limited amount of migration among populations and small population sizes. There is still a very large amount of R. sphenocephala in existence but not as many as there was in the 1900s.

 

Author: Ashtin P

Published: 02/2010

 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Leopard_Frog

http://wwknapp.home.mindspring.com/docs/southern.leopard.frog.html

http://www.californiaherps.com/frogs/pages/r.s.utricularia.html

 

Photo Credit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rana_sphenocephala.jpg