THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Anura    Ranidae  

Northern Red-legged Frog
Rana aurora Baird and Girard, 1852
RAH-nah — aw-ROHR-uh

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.10.09.45.15)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.33 MB

Province/State Distribution:
Canada: British Columbia
United States: Alaska California Oregon Washington

Taxonomic Etymology:
The "dawn frog," named for its reddish coloration.
Rana — Latin rana = "frog".
aurora — From Latin: aurora = “dawn” or “sunrise”. Likely refers to the reddish or pinkish coloring on the undersides of the frog’s legs, reminiscent of the colors of early dawn..

First instance(s) of published English names:
Western Wood Frog (Rana temporaria aurora: 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); Oregon Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora aurora: 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.); Western Wood Frog (Rana aurora aurora: 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.); Western Wood-frog (Rana aurora aurora: 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.); Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Oregon Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora aurora: 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:
1852 Baird, Spencer F. and Charles Girard. Descriptions of new species of reptiles, collected by the U. S. Exploring Expedition under the command of Capt. Charles Wilkes, U. S. N., First Part including the species from the western part of America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 6:174-177
1966 Dumas, Philip C. Studies of the Rana species complex in the Pacific Northwest. Copeia 1966(1):60-74
1977 Brown, Herbert A. A case of interbreeding between Rana aurora and Bufo boreas (Amphibia, Anura). Journal of Herpetology 11(1):92-94
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.
2001 Macey, J. Robert, Jared L. Strasburg, Jennifer A. Brisson, Bance T. Vredenburg, Mark Jennings and Allan Larson. Molecular phylogenetics of western North American frogs of the Rana boylii species group. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 19(1):131-143

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 15:54 CT