THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Anura    Ranidae  

Carpenter Frog
Lithobates virgatipes (Cope, 1891)
LITH-oh-BAY-teez — ver-GAY-tih-pez

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Data provided by Pytel (1986, Herpetologica 42: 273–282) suggest that careful evaluation for cryptic species is warranted. (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: 2023.04.09.21.53.11)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.24 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Delaware Florida Georgia Maryland New Jersey North Carolina South Carolina Virginia

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its striped foot pattern.
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.
virgatipes — From Latin virga, “stripe” or “rod,” and pes/pedis, “foot.” The name means “striped-footed,” referring to the markings on the legs or feet.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Carpenter Frog (Rana virgatipes: 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:
1891 Cope, Edward D. A new species of frog from New Jersey. American Naturalist 25:1017–1019
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
1968 Gosner, Kenneth L. and Black, Irving H. Rana virgatipes. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (67):1-2
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.
2003 Austin, James D., Stephen C. Lougheed, Paul E. Moler, and Peter T. Boag. Phylogenetics, zoogeography, and the role of dispersal and vicariance in the evolution of the Rana catesbeiana (Anura: Ranidae) species group. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 80:601-624
2022 MacGuigan, Daniel J., Genevieve G. Mount, Gregory J. Watkins-Colwell, Thomas J. Near, and Max R. Lambert. Genomic data clarify Aquarana systematics and reveal isolation-by-distance dominates phylogeography of the wide-ranging frog Rana clamitans. Ichthyology & Herpetology 110(3):602-617
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 17:18 CT