Rana cascadae
Slater, 1939
RAH-nah — kas-KAH-day
SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
The disjunct populations in the Olympic Mountains, Washington, and the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains, California, should be investigated with respect to call characters and molecular data. Previous studies on the populations have produced conflicting results (Dodd, 2023, Frogs of the United States and Canada, 2nd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press: 992pp).
(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: 2023.12.15.08.32.27)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.15 MB
Taxonomic Etymology:
Cascade frog, named for the mountain range in which it occurs.
Rana — Latin rana = "frog"
cascadae — From Latinized toponym. Derived from "Cascade" (as in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest). Formed as the Latin genitive singular: cascadae = “of the Cascades” or “from the Cascades”
First instance(s) of published English names:
Cascade Range Frog (Rana aurora cascadae: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
Amphibian Species of the World
GenBank
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database
Selected References:
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1939
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Slater, James R. Description and life history of a new Rana from Washington. Herpetologica 1:145-149
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1966
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Dumas, Philip C. Studies of the Rana species complex in the Pacific Northwest. Copeia 1966(1):60-74
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1971
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Altig, Ronald and Philip C. Dumas. Rana cascadae Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (105):1-2
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1973
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Bury, R. Bruce. The Cascade Frog, Rana cascadae, in the North Coast Range of California. Northwest Science 47(4):228-229
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1985
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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.
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2001
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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
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