New County Records and Other Data Since 1996

Rana clamitans Latreille - Green Frog

Since publication of Atlas of Amphibians in Tennessee (Redmond, W. H. and A. F. Scott. 1996. The Center for Field Biology, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN. 94 pp.), several applicable taxonomic and nomenclatural changes and numerous reports of new county records have appeared in the literature. Comments, accompanied by cited references, on the taxonomic and nomenclatural changes, plus an updated distribution map and bibliographical information on new county records as they pertain to Rana clamitans follow:

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Changes

The genus Rana was split by Frost et al. (2006, The amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 297:1-370), and all eastern North American ranid species placed in the genus Lithobates. As for L. clamitans, Austin and Zamudio (2008, Mol. Phylogeneti. Evol. 48: 1041-1053), in a study comparing patterns of lineage divergence in mtDNA sequences of two protein-encoding mitochondrial genes, concluded that subspecies distinctions are not justified.

Updated Distribution Map
(Click on the Map for an Enlarged View)

Literature Containing New County Records

          Miller, J. L.  2004.  Geographic distribution: Rana clamitans.  Herpetol. Rev. 35:407.

Claiborne and Hancock counties

Daniels, S. D., S. A. Dykes and R. L. P. Wyatt. 2012. New amphibian and reptile county records for eight counties in East Tennessee, USA.  Herpetol. Rev. 43:313-315.

Dyer, Grainger, Marshall, McNairy, Warren and Washington counties 

Reynolds, R. G. and M. L. Niemiller, 2011. Green Frog. Pp. 307-309 In M. L. Niemiller and R. G. Reynolds (eds.), The amphibians of Tennessee. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville. 369 pp.

Gibson County 

Hall, J.M.  2008.  Geographic distribution: Lithobates clamitans.  Herpetol. Rev. 39:234.

The coordinates given in this report are incorrect. They place the locality for this record in Carroll County instead of the correct location which is, as stated in the report, "Gibson Co.: Bradford."

Haywood County

Butterfield, B. P., M. Hargreaves, and A. Reed. 1999. Geographic distribution: Rana clamitans clamitans. Herpetol. Rev. 30:107.

Henderson County 

Barton, L. 2018. Geographic distribution: Lithobates clamitans. Herpetol. Rev. 49:709. 

Jefferson County 

Faust, T. M.  2009.  Geographic distribution:  Lithobates clamitans.  Herpetol. Rev. 40:109. 

Lawrence County

Messer, H.A. and B.P. Butterfield.  2007.  New records for anurans from Lawrence County, Tennessee.  Herpetol. Rev. 38:245.

Lewis County

Davenport, J. M., J. R. Ennen, and A. F. Scott. 2005. New records for amphibians from counties in south-central Tennessee.  Herpetol. Rev. 36:209-210.

The coordinates given in this report should read 35° 30' 40"N, 87° 35' 51"W, rather than 35° 30' 40"N, 85° 35' 51"W, as printed.

Loudon County

Hoverman, J. T., M. J. Gray, D. L. Miller and N. A. Haislip. 2012. Widespread occurrence of ranavirus in pond-breeding amphibian populations. EcoHealth 9:36-48.

Although not pointed out by the authors, this article includes the first published record of Rana (Lithobates) clamitans from Rutherford County.

Macon County

Mueller, A., K. H. Wild, J. P. Flaherty, J. S. Clinger, and C. M. Gienger. 2017. Geographic distribution: Lithobates clamitans. Herpetol. Rev. 48:384.

Maury and Wayne counties