## Subspecies: Carolina Gopher Frog - Rana capito capito

## Subspecies: Florida Gopher Frog - Rana capito aesopus

(no photo available)

- Diagnostic Features: Carolina Gopher Frog
  - 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:
- Diagnostic Features: Florida Gopher Frog
  - Size: 2.75 to 3.75 inches
  - Color:
    - Varies from creamy white to brown through yellowish or purplish
  - Other:
    - Black or dark brown markings; irregular and not with light borders
    - Back my be smooth or slightly warty
    - Chin and throat spotted; belly usually unmarked posteriorly
    - Short, plump frog
  - 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: Carolina Gopher Frog:
  - In North America, it is found in the coastal plain of the Carolinas and east-central Georgia
  - In Georgia, it is found scattered thru the southeast part of the state.

- Range: Florida Gopher Frog:
  - Coastal plain, south Georgia to southern Florida, isolated colony in west-central Georgia
  - In Georgia, it is found in a single southeastern county.

  - 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

June 28, 2003 - wwknapp@mindspring.com