THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Anura    Ranidae  

Vegas Valley Leopard Frog
Lithobates fisheri (Stejneger, 1893)
LITH-oh-BAY-teez — FISH-er-eye

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Previously considered to be extinct. Hekkala et al. (2011, Conservation Genetics 12: 1379–1385) used DNA sequence data from museum specimens to show that L. fisheri and frogs ascribed to L. chiricahuensis from near the Mogollon Rim in central Arizona comprise a lineage distinct from R. chiricahuensis populations to the south and east. Platz (1993, Journal of Herpetology 27: 154–162) previously noted the various lines of evidence suggesting that L. chiricahuensis was composed of more than one species, with the population in central Arizona being notably distinctive. Still, it was not possible, at that time, to compare those frogs genetically with L. fisheri. (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: 2023.12.14.08.06.11)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.07 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Nevada

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for a prominent 20th-century biologist.
Lithobates — From Greek lithos (λίθος), “stone,” and bates (βάτης), “one who walks or treads.” The name can be interpreted as “rock-walker,” possibly referencing the terrestrial habits of many species in the genus.
fisheri — A patronym honoring Albert M. Fisher, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who collected specimens of this frog in the Las Vegas Valley during the early 20th century.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Vegas Valley Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens fisheri: 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:
1893 Stejneger, Leonhard H. Annotated list of the reptiles and batrachians collected by the Death Valley Expedition in 1891, with descriptions of new species. North American Fauna 7:159–228
1920 Boulenger, George A. A monograph of the American frogs of the genus Rana. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (55):413-480
1957 Ruibal, Rodolfo. An altitudinal and latitudinal cline in Rana pipiens. Copeia 1957(3):212-221
1981 Honegger, Rene E. List of amphibians and reptiles either known or thought to have become extinct since 1600. Biological Conservation 19(1980-1981):141-158
1985 Hillis, David M. Evolutionary genetics and systematics of New World frogs of the genus Rana: An analysis of ribosomal DNA, allozymes, and morphology. Dissertation. University of Kansas, Lawrence. pp.
2011 Hekkala, Evon R., Raymond A. Saumure, Jef R. Jaeger, Hans-Werner Herrmann, Michael J. Dredl, David F. Bradford, Danielle Drabeck, and Michael J. Blum. Resurrecting an extinct species: Archival DNA, taxonomy, and conservation of the Vegas Valley leopard Frog. Conservation Genetics 2011(12):1379–1385
2025 Chambers, E. Anne, José Daniel Lara-Tufiño, Gustavo Campillo-García, Antonio Yolocalli Cisneros-Bernal, Daniel J. Dudek Jr., Virginia León-Règagnon, Josiah H. Townsend, Oscar Flores-Villela, and David M. Hillis. Distinguishing species boundaries from geographic variation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 122(19):e2423688122

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Tuesday 27 January 2026 17:16 CT