Southern Leopard Frog
Lithobates sphenocephalus (Cope, 1886)

Taxonomy

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Trogloxene

Realm

Terrestrial

Distribution

Range

Known from 14 counties across five states.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee

Counties

Arkansas

Independence, Stone

Florida

Alachua, Columbia, Jackson, Levy, Marion

Georgia

Grady

Kentucky

Breckinridge, Edmonson

Tennessee

Knox, Marion, Roane, Rutherford

Conservation and management

IUCN Red List

LC Least Concern

Assessed in 2021.

NatureServe

G5 Secure

National ranks

United States

N5 Secure

Subnational ranks

Maryland

S4 Apparently Secure

Virginia

S4 Apparently Secure

Kentucky

S5 Secure

Texas

S5 Secure

North Carolina

S5 Secure

South Carolina

S5 Secure

Oklahoma

SNR Unranked

Louisiana

S5 Secure

Missouri

S5 Secure

District of Columbia

S2 Imperiled

Alabama

S5 Secure

Kansas

S5 Secure

Mississippi

S5 Secure

Tennessee

S5 Secure

Iowa

S4 Apparently Secure

Florida

S5 Secure

Pennsylvania

S1 Critically Imperiled

Arkansas

S5 Secure

Georgia

S5 Secure

Indiana

S4 Apparently Secure

New Jersey

S5 Secure

Delaware

S5 Secure

Illinois

S5 Secure

State and federal status

Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act

References

• Brock, K.A. & Bortone, S.A. 1977. Cave dwelling fishes in panhandle Florida. Florida Scientist 40: 406–407. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24320078.
• Franz, R., Bauer, J. & Morris, T. 1994. Review of biologically significant caves and their faunas in Florida and south Georgia. Brimleyana 20: 1–109. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/229726.
• Hobbs & H.H. Jr. 1942. The Crayfishes of Florida. University of Florida Biological Science Series Volume 3, Issue 2, Gainesville, Florida, USA. 179 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. 2005. A biological inventory of caves of the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 156 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. & Lewis, S.L. 2007. A biological reconnaissance of selected caves in the Highland Rim area of central Tennessee. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 42 pp.
• McDaniel, V.R. & Gardner, J.E. 1977. Cave fauna of Arkansas: vertebrate taxa. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science 31: 68–71. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol31/iss1/22.
• Niemiller, M.L. & Miller, B.T. 2009. A survey of the cave-associated herpetofauna of the eastern United States with an emphasis on salamanders. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Speleology, Kerrville, Texas, USA, Volume 1: 249–256.
• Pearson, W.D. & Boston, C.H., Jr. 1995. Distribution and status of the northern cavefish, Amblyopsis spelaea. Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Fish and Wildlife, Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program,, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. 99 pp.
• Pylka, J.M. 1957. Cave vertebrates of Florida. The Florida Speleologist 1: 6–7.
• Simmons, D.D. 1975. The evolutionary ecology of Gyrinophilus palleucus. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA. 105 pp.
• Zigler, K.S., Niemiller, M.L., Stephen, C.D.R., Ayala, B.N., Milne, M.A., Gladstone, N.S., Engel, A.S., Jensen, J.B., Camp, C.D., Ozier, J.C. & Cressler, A. 2020. Biodiversity from caves and other subterranean habitats of Georgia, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 82: 125–167. doi:10.4311/2019LSC0125

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

Spotted something wrong on this page? Report a correction. Accounts are compiled from many sources and corrections from people who know the group are the most useful email we get.