Rana catesbeiana

The American bullfrog, often simply known as the bullfrog in Canada and the United States, is a species of large frog in the family Ranidae. The species is native to eastern North America. It typically inhabits large permanent water bodies such as swamps, ponds, and lakes. The bullfrog can also be found in manmade habitats such as pools, koi ponds, canals, ditches, reservoirs and culverts. The bullfrog gets its common name from the sound the male makes during the breeding season, which sounds similar to a bull bellowing. It is a generalist carnivore, consuming a wide variety of prey. In turn, it is eaten by predators such as alligators, snakes, and birds.

Rana catesbeiana

Carl D. Howe · CC BY-SA 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
American bullfrogPBDB
Sits inside
RanaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Temnospondyli
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda

Time the record covers

At least 4.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 4.7 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 9.4 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 2 of 16 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 16 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 13 of 16 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 16 occurrences9.6–9.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.2–8.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.9–8.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.6–8.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.3–7.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.9–6.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.6–6.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.3–5.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.9–5.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.3–5.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.0–4.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.6–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.3–2.0 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.6–1.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.3–990 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences990 ka–660 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence660 ka–330 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences330 ka–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences4.7 Mya129 ka9.9 Mya0 Mya

16 occurrences of Rana catesbeiana on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

16 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Alamosa — 37.37°N, 105.75°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°W

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The named rock units Rana catesbeiana has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Rana catesbeiana and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Rana catesbeiana and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

543 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Rana catesbeiana, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

12 references

Each of the 16 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Rana catesbeiana

Credit
Carl D. Howe
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itRana through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Shaw 1802