• Source: Gopher frog

The gopher frog (Lithobates capito) is a species of frog in the family Ranidae, endemic to the south-eastern United States. It primarily inhabits the threatened sandhill communities, flatwoods, and scrub in the Atlantic coastal plain, where it is usually found near ponds.




Subspecies


Its two subspecies include the Carolina gopher frog (L. c. capito), and Florida gopher frog (L. c. aesopus). The dusky gopher frog (L. sevosus), also known as the Mississippi gopher frog, had previously been considered a subspecies, but was elevated to species status in 2001.




Range


Gopher frogs occur along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States from southern North Carolina to peninsular Florida. The gopher frog's range extends west along the Gulf Coast to the Tombigbee River in Alabama. The Florida gopher frog is restricted to peninsular Florida. Today, gopher frogs' distribution is patchy, owing greatly to loss of longleaf pine forest communities.




Ecology


Within the flatwoods, xeric longleaf pine–turkey oak communities, sand pine scrub and oak hammocks they call home, gopher frogs move between mass breeding sites in ephemeral or semi-permanent wetlands and summer upland habitat. In these non-breeding times, gopher frogs frequently inhabit gopher tortoise burrows, as well as the tunnels of burrowing crayfish or rodents, or holes associated with felled longleaf pine trees as has been observed in North Carolina. Migration out of the breeding habitats typically occurs at night when it is raining, and frogs have been recorded moving up to 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) into their summer refugia. While en route in migrations through mid-May, gopher frogs may be vulnerable to mortality associated with prescribed burns and predation.




Conservation status


Gopher frogs' primary threats include loss of habitat and fire suppression. It is entirely dependent upon small vernal pools for its annual reproduction. These pools in pine flatwoods are being lost to development, and to fire suppression, which allows forests to invade the natural savanna habitat. Hence, prescribed burns and habitat acquisition are considered key management strategies for its survival.




Footnotes






References


Hillis, D.M., Frost, J.S.,& Wright, D.A. (1983): Phylogeny and biogeography of the Rana pipiens complex: A biochemical evaluation. Systematic Zoology' 32: 132–143.
Hillis, D.M. (1988): Systematics of the Rana pipiens complex: Puzzle and paradigm. Annual Review of Systematics and Ecology 19: 39–63.
Hillis, D.M. & Wilcox, T.P. (2005): Phylogeny of the New World true frogs (Rana). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 34(2): 299–314. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.007 PMID 15619443 PDF fulltext.
Hillis, D. M. (2007) Constraints in naming parts of the Tree of Life. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 42: 331–338.




External links



Gopher Frogs, Burrows, and Fire: Interactions in the Longleaf Pine Ecosystem - 2009 University of Florida Fact Sheet
Rana capito in the CalPhotos photo database, University of California, Berkeley

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Daftar tokoh Disney
• Daftar hewan yang menampilkan perilaku homoseksual
• Frank Welker
• Daftar peluru kendali menurut negara
• Academy Award untuk Film Pendek Animasi Terbaik
• The Bugs Bunny Show
• Gopher frog
• Mississippi gopher frog
• Rana (genus)
• Harrison County, Mississippi
• Marsh
• Georgia Florida and Alabama Railroad
• List of amphibians of Florida
• Dusky frog
• Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service
• Endangered Species Act of 1973