THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Anura    Ranidae  

California Red-legged Frog
Rana draytonii Baird and Girard, 1852
RAH-nah — DRAY-ton-ee-eye

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: 2024.12.03.13.20.19)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.59 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: California Nevada

Taxonomic Etymology:
Drayton’s frog, honoring an artist-naturalist from the U.S. Exploring Expedition.
Rana — Latin rana = "frog"
draytonii — Patronym honoring Joseph Drayton (1795-1856), a natural history illustrator and artist. Served as the expedition artist aboard the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838–1842), led by Charles Wilkes. He contributed biological illustrations and assisted in field collections during the expedition, which covered parts of the Pacific, including the west coast of North America

First instance(s) of published English names:
Drayton's Frog (Rana draytoni: Cooper, James G. 1869. The fauna of California and its geographical distribution. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 4():61-81); Leconte's Frog (Rana lecontii: Cooper, James G. 1869. The fauna of California and its geographical distribution. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 4():61-81); Long-footed Frog (Rana longipes: Cooper, James G. 1869. The fauna of California and its geographical distribution. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 4():61-81); French Frog (Rana aurora draytonii: 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.); Leconte's Frog (Rana aurora draytonii: 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.); Drayton's Frog (Rana aurora draytonii: 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.); California Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora draytonii: 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 draytonii: 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.); Rocky Mountain Frog (Rana aurora draytonii: 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.); Bloody Nouns (Rana aurora draytonii: 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.); Long-footed Frog (Rana aurora draytonii: 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.); California Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora draytoni: 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 of Philadelphia 6:174-177
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
1966 Dumas, Philip C. Studies of the Rana species complex in the Pacific Northwest. Copeia 1966(1):60-74
1972 Turner, Frederick B. and Philip C. Dumas. Rana pretiosa Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (119):1-4
1974 Altig, Ronald and Philip C. Dumas. Rana aurora Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (160):1-4
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 Reaser, Jamie Kristine. Occurrence of the California Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora draytonii) in Nevada, USA. Western North American Naturalist 63(3):400-401
2013 Barry, Sean J. and Gary M. Fellers. History and status of the California Red-legged Frog (Rana draytonii) in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 8(2):456-502

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Tuesday 27 January 2026 17:19 CT