THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Anura    Hylidae  

Canyon Treefrog
Dryophytes arenicolor (Cope, 1866)
DRY-oh-FY-teez — uh-REN-ih-ko-lor

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Bryson et al. (2010, Evolution, 64: 2315–2340) also reported on molecular geographic variation and demonstrated introgression with D. wrightorum. Based only on the mitochondrial subset of their data, Li et al. (2015, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 87: 80–90) found multiple divergent lineages within a monophyletic D. arenicolor. Barber (1999, Molecular Ecology 8: 563–576) examined geographic variation and suggested that at least two other species should be recognized within the Mexican component of its range. (Mendelson, Joseph R., III, Darrel R. Frost, Emily Moriarty Lemmon, and Maureen A. Donnelly. 2025. Anura – Frogs. Pages 1-9 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.09.18.09.50.04)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.51 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arizona Colorado New Mexico Texas Utah

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its sandlike hue.
Dryophytes — From Greek drys (δρῦς), “tree” or “oak,” and phyton (φυτόν), “plant” or “creature,” used here in the zoological sense as “dweller.” The name means “tree-dweller,” fitting for an arboreal genus.
arenicolor — From Latin arena, “sand,” and color, “color.” The name means “sand-colored,” referring to the frog’s cryptic, earth-toned camouflage that matches canyon and desert habitats.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Cope's Hyla (Hyla arenicolor: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Canyon Tree-toad (Hyla arenicolor: Wright, Anna Allen, and Alex Hazen Wright. 1933. Handbook of frogs and toads. The frogs and toads of the United States and Canada Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, NY. xi+231pp.); Arizona Tree Frog (Hyla arenicolor: Wright, Anna Allen, and Alex Hazen Wright. 1933. Handbook of frogs and toads. The frogs and toads of the United States and Canada Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, NY. xi+231pp.); Canyon Tree Frog (Hyla arenicolor: Wright, Anna Allen, and Alex Hazen Wright. 1933. Handbook of frogs and toads. The frogs and toads of the United States and Canada Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, NY. xi+231pp.); Desert Tree-Toad (Hyla arenicolor: Wright, Anna Allen, and Alex Hazen Wright. 1933. Handbook of frogs and toads. The frogs and toads of the United States and Canada Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, NY. xi+231pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
Amphibian Species of the World
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1866 Cope, Edward D. On the structures and distribution of the genera of the arciferous Anura. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Series 2 6:67–112
1890 Stejneger, Leonhard H. Part V. - Annotated list of reptiles and batrachians collected by Dr. C. Hart Merriam and Vernon Bailey on the San Francisco Mountain Plateau and Desert of the Little Colorado, Arizona, with descriptions of new species. North American Fauna 3(3):103-118
1953 Finley, Robert B., Jr. A northern record of Hyla arenicolor in western Colorado. Copeia 1953(3):180
1961 Zweifel, Richard G. Larval development of the tree frogs Hyla arenicolor and Hyla wrightorum. American Museum Novitates (2056):1-19
1975 Pierce, Jack R. Genetic compatibility of Hyla arenicolor with other species in the family, Hylidae. Texas Journal of Science 26(3/4):431-441
1978 Maxson, Linda R. Immunological evidence pertaining to relationships between old world Hyla arborea (Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae) and North American Hyla. Journal of Herpetology 12(1):98-100
1991 Highton, Richard H. Molecular phylogeny of Plethodonine salamanders and Hylid frogs: Statistical analysis of protein comparisons. Molecular Biology and Evolution 8(6):796-818
1999 Barber, Paul H. Patterns of gene flow and population genetic structure in the canyon treefrog, Hyla arenicolor (Cope). Molecular Ecology 8(4):563-576
2005 Lannoo, Michael (Editor) Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species. University fo California Press, Berkeley. 1115pp.
2005 Faivovich, J., C. F. B. Haddad, P. C. de A. Garcia, D. R. Frost, J. A. Campbell, and W. C. Wheeler. Systematic review of the frog family Hylidae, with special reference to Hylinae: A phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History (294):1–240
2009 Hua, Xia, Cuizhang Fu, Jiatang Li, Adrian Nieta Montes de Oca and John J. Wiens. A revised phylogeny of holarctic treefrogs (Genus Hyla) based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences. Herpetologica 65(3):246-259
2010 Wiens, John J., Caitlin A. Kuczynski, Xia Hua, and Daniel S. Moen. An expanded phylogeny of treefrogs (Hylidae) based on nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 55:871-882
2010 Bryson, Robert W. , Jr., Adrian Nieto-Montes de Oca, Jef R. Jaeger, and Brett R. Riddle. Elucidation of cryptic diversity in a widespread Nearctic treefrog reveals episodes of mitochondrial gene capture as frogs diversified across a dynamic landscape. Evolution 64(8):2315–2330
2012 Klymus, Katy E. and H. Carl Gerhardt. AFLP markers resolve intra-specific relationships and infer genetic structure among lineages of the Canyon Treefrog, Hyla arenicolor. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 65(2):654-667
2013 Dodd, C. Kenneth. Frogs of the United States and Canada. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. 982pp.
2014 Bryson, Robert W., Brian Tilston Smith, Adrian Nieto-Montes de Oca, Uri Omar Garcia-Vazquez, and Brett R. Riddle. The role of mitochondrial introgression in illuminating the evolutionary history of Nearctic treefrogs. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 172(1):103-116
2016 Duellman, William E., Angela B. Marion, and S. Blair Hedges. Phylogenetics, classification, and biogeography of the treefrogs (Amphibia: Anura: Arboranae). Zootaxa 4101(1):109
2023 Dodd, C. Kenneth. Frogs of the United States and Canada. Second Edition. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. 1032pp.

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 15:55 CT