THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Anura    Hylidae  

Cope's Gray Treefrog
Dryophytes chrysoscelis (Cope, 1880)

Current SSAR Comments:
See comment under D. versicolor.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.08.23.01.41)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 2.18 MB

Province/State Distribution:
Canada: Manitoba
USA: Alabama Arkansas Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Nebraska New Jersey North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Virginia West Virginia Wisconsin

First instance(s) of published English names:
Common Tree Toad (Hyla versicolor: Davis, N. S., and Frank L. Rice. 1883. List of Batrachia and Reptilia of Illinois. Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 1(3):25–32); Changeable Tree Toad (Hyla versicolor: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46); Western Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor chrysoscelis: Strecker, John K., Jr. 1922. An annotated catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Bexar County, Texas. Bulletin Scientific Society of San Antonio (4):1-31); Cope's Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor chrysoscelis: 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.); Tree Toad (Hyla versicolor: Smith, Hobart M. 1934. The Amphibians of Kansas. American Midland Naturalist 15(4):377-527); Southern Gray Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor chrysoscelis: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Central Texas Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor sandersi: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1825 LeConte, John E. Remarks on the American species of the genera Hyla and Rana. Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York 1(2):278-282
1880 Cope, Edward D. On the zoological position of Texas. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (17):151
1958 Bragg, Arthur N. Taxonomic status of the gray tree frog in Oklahoma. Herpetologica 14(2):79-84
1958 Blair, W. Frank. Mating call in the speciation of anuran amphibians. The American Naturalist 92(862):27-51
1959 Bragg, Arthur N. Voice in Salientia. I. Observations on Hyla versicolor x chrysoscelis intergrades in central Oklahoma with a few data from Arkansas. Wasmann Journal of Biology 17(2):231-243
1961 Johnson, C. F. Cryptic Speciation in the Hyla versicolor Complex. Dissertation. University of Texas, Austin. pp.
1963 Johnson, Clifford R. Additional evidence of sterility between call-types in the Hyla versicolor complex. Copeia 1963(1):139-143
1966 Johnson, C. Species recognition in the Hyla versicolor complex. Texas Journal of Science 18(4):361-364
1968 Ralin, Dennis B. Ecological and reproductive differentiation in cryptic species of the Hyla versicolor complex (Hylidae). Southwestern Naturalist 13(3):283-300
1970 Wasserman, Aaron O. Polyploidy in the common tree toad Hyla versicolor Le Conte. Science (167):385-386
1972 Brown, Lauren E. and Jill R. Brown. Mating calls and distributional records of Treefrogs of the Hyla versicolor complex in Illinois. Journal of Herpetology 6(3-4):233-234
1972 Bogart, James P. and Aaron O. Wasserman. Diploid-polyploid cryptic species pairs: A possible clue to evolution by polyploidization in anuran amphibians. Cytogenetics 11():7-24
1972 Pierce, Jack R. and Dennis B. Ralin. Vocalizations and behavior of the males of three species in the Hyla versicolor complex. Herpetologica 28(4):329-337
1974 Gerhardt, H. Carl. Mating call differences between eastern and western populations of the treefrog Hyla chrysoscelis. Copeia 1974(2):534-536
1976 Ralin, Dennis B. Comparative hybridization of a diploid-tetraploid cryptic species pair of treefrogs. Copeia 1976(1):191-196
1977 Ralin, Dennis B. Evolutionary aspects of mating call variation in a diploid-tetraploid species complex of treefrogs (Anura). Evolution 31(4):721-736
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
1978 Cash, Marion N. and James P. Bogart. Cytological differentiation of the diploid-tetraploid species pair of North American treefrogs (Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae). Journal of Herpetology 12(4):555-558
1979 Ralin, Dennis B. and James S. Rogers. A morphological analysis of a North American diploid-tetraploid complex of treefrogs (Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae). Journal of Herpetology 13(3):261-269
1979 Ralin, Dennis B. and Robert K. Selander. Evolutionary genetics of diploid-tetraploid species of treefrogs of the genus Hyla. Evolution 33(2):595-608
1980 Bogart, James P. Evolutionary implications of polyploidy in amphibians and reptiles. Pages 341-378 in Polyploidy Plenum Press, New York. pp.
1980 Green, David M. Size differences in adhesive toe-pad cells of treefrogs of the diploid-polyploid Hyla versicolor complex. Journal of Herpetology 14(1):15-19
1981 Fitzgerald, Kevin T., Hobart M. Smith, and Louis J. Guillette, Jr. Nomenclature of the diploid species of the diploid-tetraploid Hyla versicolor complex. Journal of Herpetology 15(3):356-360
1982 Wiley, John E. Chromosome banding patterns of treefrogs (Hylidae) of the eastern United States. Herpetologica 38(4):507-520
1983 Ralin, Dennis B., Michael A. Romano and C. William Kilpatrick. The tetraploid treefrog Hyla versicolor: Evidence for a single origin from the diploid H.chrysoscelis . Herpetologica 39(3):212-225
1985 Collins, Joseph T. and David M. Hillis. Final report to the Kansas Fish and Game Commission on the Gray Treefrogs of Kansas. Contract #75. ():12
1987 Hillis, David M., Joseph T. Collins, and James P. Bogart. Distribution of diploid and tetraploid species of Gray Tree Frogs (Hyla chrysoscelis and Hyla versicolor) in Kansas American Midland Naturalist 117(1):214-217
1987 Romano, Michael A., Dennis B. Ralin, Sheldon I. Guttman and John H. Skillings. Parallel electromorph variation in the diploid-tetraploid Gray Treefrog complex. The American Naturalist 130(6):864-878
1990 Cline, George R. Evolution in the Gray Treefrog complex: Acoustical, morphological, and genetic variation in midwestern populations. Dissertation. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. 165pp.
1991 Mable, Barbara and James P. Bogart. Call analysis of triploid hybrids resulting from diploid-tetraploid species of crosses of hylid tree frogs. Bioacoustics 3():111-119
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
1992 Smith, Hobart M., Kevin T. Fitzgerald, and Louis J. Guillette, Jr. Note on the proposed designation of a neotype for Hyla chrysoscelis Cope, 1880, and the designation of a neotype for H. versicolor le Conte, 1825 (Amphibia, Anura). Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 49():151–152
1994 Ptacek, Margaret B., H. Carl Gerhardt and Richard D. Sage. Speciation by polyploidy in treefrogs: Multiple origins of the tetraploid, Hyla versicolor. Evolution 48(3):898-908
1994 Gerhardt, H. Carl, Margaret B. Ptacek, Louise Barnett, and Kenneth G. Torke. Hybridization in the diploid-tetraploid treefrogs Hyla chrysoscelis and Hyla versicolor. Copeia 1994(1):51-59
2000 Keller, Michael J. Validity of nucleolar number for identification of the diploid-tetraploid gray treefrogs, Hyla chrysoscelis and Hyla versicolor. Copeia 2000(3):860-862
2001 Keller, Michael J. and H. Carl Gerhardt. Polyploidy alters advertisement call structure in gray tree frogs. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 268():341–345
2002 Espinoza, N. R. and M. A. F. Noor. Population genetics of a polyploid: Is there hybridization between lineages of Hyla versicolor? The Journal of Heredity 93(2):81-85
2004 Holloway, Alisha K. Polyploid origins, experimental evolution of gene duplicates, and duplication and divergence of reproductive genes. Dissertation. University of Texas, Austin. 78pp.
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
2006 Wrijenhoek, Robert C. Polyploid hybrids: Multiple origins of a treefrog species. Current Biology 16(7):R245-R247
2006 Holloway, Alisha K., David C. Cannatella, H. Carl Gerhardt, and David M. Hillis. Polyploids with different origins and ancestors form a single sexual polyploid species. The American Naturalist 167(4):E88-E101
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
2011 Tucker, Mitch A. and H. C. Gerhardt. Parallel changes in mate-attracting calls and female preferences in autotriploid tree frogs. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 279():1583–1587
2013 Dodd, C. Kenneth. Frogs of the United States and Canada. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. 982pp.
2013 Bogart, James P. and K. Bi. Genetic and genomic interactions of animals with different ploidy levels. Cytogenetic and Genome Research 140(2-4):117–136
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
2019 Zhang, Jia-Yong, Bryan E. Luu, Dan-Na Yua, Le-Ping Zhang, Rasha Al-attar, and Kenneth B. Storey. The complete mitochondrial genome of Dryophytes versicolor: Phylogenetic relationship among Hylidae and mitochondrial protein-coding gene expression in response to freezing and anoxia. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 132():461-469
2020 Booker, William W. The evolutionary history and quaternary origins of the polyploid Gray Treefrog complex (Hylidae: Hyla versicolor sensu lato). Dissertation. Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. 152pp.
2022 Lazerus, Nora K. Efficacy of Non-Lethal Molecular Methods in Elucidating Distribution of Gray Treefrog Complex (Hyla chrysoscelis/versicolor) in Kansas. Thesis. Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas. 25pp.
2022 Booker, William W., H. Carl Gerhardt, Alan R. Lemmon, Margaret B. Ptacek, Alyssa T.B. Hassinger, Johannes Schul, and Emily Moriarty Lemmon. The complex history of genome duplication and hybridization in North American Gray Treefrogs. Molecular Biology and Evolution 39(2):19
2023 Dodd, C. Kenneth. Frogs of the United States and Canada. Second Edition. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. 1032pp.
2023 Booker, William W., Emily Moriarty Lemmon, Alan R. Lemmon, Margaret B. Ptacek, Alyssa T. B. Hassinger, Johannes Schul, and H. Carl Gerhardt. Biogeography and the evolution of acoustic communication in the polyploid North American grey treefrog complex. Molecular Ecology 32(17):4863-4879

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 24 March 2025 20:24 CT