Gopher Frog - Rana capito

Diagnostic Features:
- Size: 2.5 to 3.5 inches
- Color:
  - Variable, but dark, ranging from gray to brown
- Other:
  - Spots black, reddish brown or dark brown, but faint
  - Warts always prominent, variable in shape, almost pavementlike
  - Short, plump frog
  - Ventral surfaces heavily marked with dark flecks
- Sexual Dimorphism:
  - Males may have yellow on the dorsolateral ridges, on the warts, along upper jaw, and in armpits and groins

Natural History:

Habitat:
- Sandy
Behavior:
- Daytime, Gopher Tortoise burrows and other deep shelter
- Active at night
Breeding:
- January - March
- Explosive Breeders, normally after heavy rains
- Egg mass is a large globular cluster attached to stems

Voice: Sonogram : Call ( Okaloosa County, FL, & Taylor County GA)

A deep snore, like the distant roar of an outboard motor; more continuous and hoarser than the Southern Leopard Frog

Tadpoles:

Tadpole stage 85 - 100 days
Transformed young are 27 - 38 mm long
LTRF usually 2/3; regardless of size, stage or range
iris always with iridophores in life; length of one side of A- 2/width of medial gap ca. .5; P-2/P-3 ca. 1.7; P-1 without a medial gap; midventral marginal papillae large; submarginal papillae few to absent; dorsal fin originates near tail-body junction and forms medium arch; white lip line usually absent; variable, depending on turbidity, from uniformly dark to uniformly pale, fins usually clear but may have bold markings; lentic, usually temporary sites, breeds explosively in early spring throughout Mississippi Embayment and Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains (no accurate means of distinguishing between R. areolata, R. capito, and R. pipiens + R. sphenocephala)

Range:

In North America, it is found in the coastal plain of the Carolinas, south Georgia to southern Florida.
In Georgia, it is found scattered thru the southeast part of 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