THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Anura    Ranidae  

Atlantic Coast Leopard Frog
Lithobates kauffeldi (Feinberg, Newman, Watkins-Colwell, Schlesinger, Zarate, Curry, Shaffer, and Burger, 2014)
LITH-oh-BAY-teez — KAW-feld-eye

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 The recognition of this species may require revision of the range of L. palustris to exclude areas of southern New York, southern Connecticut, Rhode Island, and parts of Massachusetts. (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: 2026.01.08.09.57.20)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.09 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Connecticut Delaware Maryland New Jersey New York North Carolina Pennsylvania Virginia

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for a herpetologist who championed its recognition.
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.
kauffeldi — A patronym honoring Carl F. Kauffeld (1911–1974), a well-known herpetologist, author, and zookeeper who long suspected the existence of a distinct, unrecognized leopard frog in the New York–New Jersey area.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens pipiens: 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.); Shad Frog (Rana pipiens pipiens: 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.); Meadow Frog (Rana pipiens pipiens: 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.); Common Frog (Rana pipiens pipiens: 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.); Spotted Green Frog (Rana pipiens pipiens: 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.); Herring-hoppers (Rana pipiens pipiens: 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:
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
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.
2014 Feinberg, Jeremy A., Catherine E. Newman, Gregory J. Watkins-Colwell, Matthew D. Schlesinger, Brian Zarate, Brian R. Curry, H. Bradley Shaffer, and Joanna Burger. Cryptic diversity in metropolis: Confirmation of a new Leopard Frog species (Anura: Ranidae) from New York City and surrounding Atlantic Coast regions. PLoS One 9(10):1-15
2018 Schlesinger, Matthew D., Jeremy A. Feinberg, Nathan H. Nazdrowicz, J. D. Kleopfer, Jeffrey C. Beane, John F. Bunnell, Joanna Burger, Edward Corey, Kathy Gipe, Jesse W. Jaycox, Erik Kiviat, Jacob Kubel, Dennis P. Quinn, Christopher Raithel, Peter A. Scott, Sarah M. Wenner , Erin L. White, Brian Zarate, and H. Bradley Shaffer. Follow-up ecological studies for cryptic species discoveries: Decrypting the leopard frogs of the eastern U.S. PLoS ONE 13(11):e0205805
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 17:15 CT