Lithobates berlandieri, Leopard Frog

Excerpts from Jim Conrad's
Naturalist Newsletter

from the August 17, 2007 Newsletter issued from Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, QUERÉTARO, MÉXICO
A MEXICAN LEOPARD FROG
Passing by a pond emerald green with algae, a leopard frog was spotted a few feet from the bank. On my hikes typically critters fly or jump away before I can unstrap my backpack, bring out the camera and wait for it to hum and click before it can take a picture but this time I did all that and the frog still sat there. I took pictures closer and closer until he filled my entire viewer. You can see the resulting portrait below:

Who knows why this frog didn't jump? He did when he was prodded. Maybe he was a philosopher frog. Anyway, he looks pretty much like the US's Northern Leopard Frogs, except that his body is grayer than I'm used to.

NOTE: In 2013 more info is available and now the above frog is more recognizable as Lithobates berlandieri, in the US known as the Rio Grande Leopard Frog. However, the species extends throughout eastern Mexico south to Nicaragua, so that name won't do here.

Back at the computer I was shocked to see that leopard frogs have been shifted from the nice genus Rana to the harder-to-remember Lithobates.

Moreover, leopard frog taxonomy is poorly understood, so we'll just call this a leopard frog, genus Lithobates.