Lithobates clamitans
Identification Tips:
Adults
• Green, brown or bronze in colour
• Skin folds extend at least 3/4 way down each side of back from rear of eye (Bullfrogs lack these)
• Eardrum as large or larger than eye
• Dark bars on legs
• When startled, characteristically squawk and leap into water
Tadpoles
• Olive green with irregular dark blotches (not sharply edged black spots as on Bullfrog)
• May reach10 cm length
Egg Masses
• Large masses that may contain several thousand eggs
• Initially floating on water or tangled in vegetation and later sinking
Conservation Status:
| British Columbia | Canada | Natureserve | |
| COSEWIC | Species at Risk Act | ||
| Introduced Species | Not Assessed | None | G5 |
Life History:
• Breed May to August
• Tadpoles overwinter once before metamorphosis
• Mature 2 to 3 years after metamorphosis
• Adults and juveniles eat a wide variety of invertebrates
• Tadpoles eat algae, plankton, organic debris, plants.
Habitat:
• All permanent or semi-permanent water bodies
• Breed in shallow water with little or no flow
• Move between water bodies in wet weather, usually at night
Range:
British Columbia
•Introduced species
• Fraser Valley from Vancouver/Richmond east to Hope
• Victoria and Coombs areas on Vancouver Island
Global
• Eastern Manitoba to Maritimes and south to Gulf of Mexico
• Introduced to Newfoundland
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Primary Information Sources:
Efauna BC: http://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/
BC Conservation Data Centre: http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/
