



Bullfrog - Rana catesbeiana

- Diagnostic Features:
- Size: 3.5 to 8 inches (85 to 200 mm)
- Color:
- Plain green or with gray net-like pattern on green
ground color
- Other:
- Our Largest frog
- Prominent tympanum
- Ventral surfaces white and mottled with gray or
yellow
- Dorsolateral folds end near tympanum
- Long hind legs may be blotched or banded
- Fully webbed hind feet, except fourth toe
- Sexual Dimorphism:
- Males are smaller than females
- Males have larger tympanum
- Males have a yellow throat
- Natural History:
- Habitat:
- This frog prefers large bodies of water, ponds, lakes,
and slow streams.
- It is most often seen at the edge of the water in
vegetation or debris.
- Behavior:
- It is active in the evening and at night.
- It is solitary and territorial.
- It is able to leap great distances.
- It feeds on anything that moves and can be swallowed,
including insects, crawfish, small fish, frogs, birds and
snakes.
- If "cornered" it may flatten against the ground
- Breeding:
- Breeding takes place from February to October.
- Egg masses are laid in a film on surface of the
water.
- Each female lays about 12,000 eggs
- Voice: Sonogram
: Call
(Lowndes, Wilkes, Appling, Jeff Davis, & Walker Counties )
Green Frogs in background.
- Series of deep notes, which may sound like "jug o'
rum"
- Single, internal vocal sac
- Tadpoles:
- Size: Some tadpoles reach very large size ~125 - 150
mm
- Metamorphosis takes about a year
- LTRF 1/3, 2/3 (most commonly) or 3/3;

- tadpole larger, 25-140 TL; dorsum, dorsal fin and dorsal
part of tail muscle with many, small, black dots with discrete
borders, visible in live or preserved animals, but are faint
(visible at magnification) when first form at about 20-25 TL;
ground color brownish to greenish in life, brownish to gray in
preservative; belly opaque white in larger specimens, sometimes
tinged with yellow in life; body not strongly depressed and
dorsal fin with notable arch; native and introduced ranges
include most of continent; breeds in summer in larger lotic and
lentic sites, may over-winter 0-3 years

- low contrast (sometimes not noticeable without
magnification) yellow band at mid-body; rest of body with
scattered iridophores that appear to reside in various
integumentary and subintegumentary layers; black pigment along
blood vessel that parallels dorsal surface of tail muscle; fins
clear and not marked; tail muscle unicolored or graded from
dark dorsally to light ventrally; throughout continent in
native and introduced ranges, breeds in summer depending on
latitude, in larger lotic and lentic sites

- tadpole larger, 25-140 TL; body dorsum uniformly olive to
bright green in life, gray to brownish in preservative; dorsal
fin and dorsal half of tail muscle totally lacking black dots
of typical R. catesbeiana; belly densely white to bright
yellow; body not strongly depressed and dorsal fin with notable
arch; unusual color morphotype that breeds in summer in lentic
and slow-flowing lotic sites in southern Alabama and Florida
peninsula to at least Tampa Bay area
- Range:
- In North America, this frog is found in the eastern
two-thirds of the United States, barely extending into Canada
and Mexico. Also introduced in some western states.
- In Georgia, it is found throughout the state.


- In Light Blue:
Williamson, Gerald K. & Moulis, Robert A., Distribution of
Amphibians and Reptiles in Georgia, Special Publication No. 3,
Savannah Science Museum, Inc. Savannah, Georgia, 1994
- In Green: Sound
Recordings
- In Yellow: From Both
'94 study and Sound Recordings
- In Magenta: Photograph,
not found by '94, may or may not be sound record
- In Medium Blue:
Photograph and in '94 study, may or may not be sound
record
- In Orange: County Record by
other Herp Atlas Volunteers
- In Red: US Distribution
from various sources


September 9, 2006 - wwknapp@mindspring.com