DUSKY GOPHER FROG

Back

? Suzanne L. Collins, The Center
for North American Herpetology
www.cnah.org

Rana sevosa

Federal status: Endangered (December 4, 2001)
State status: unlisted

Description: This stout frog, generally 6-9 cm snout-vent length, has dorsolateral ridges and is uniformly dark above or with irregular dorsal spots lacking light borders; its throat and belly region is generally pigmented, often heavily so (though the young have less spotting, especially on the abdomen); warts are prominent on dorsum. The Mississippi Gopher frog requires open, grassy seasonal (i.e., fishless) wetlands for successful reproduction. Adults move to breeding site in association with heavy rains, usually February-March. Fist-sized egg masses, containing 2,000 or more eggs, are typically attached to stems of emergent vegetation. Metamorphs typically exit the ponds in May.

Habitat: Upland sandy habitats historically forested with longleaf pine and isolated temporary wetland breeding sites imbedded within this forested landscape. This frog spends the majority of its life in or near underground refugia as abandoned mammal burrows and holes in and under old stumps.

Distribution: Formerly occurred in the Coastal Plain west of Mobile Bay from Alabama to Mississippi and eastern Louisiana; it is now known from a single site in Mississippi.

Reasons for decline:

1. Lost of suitable habitat caused by modern siviculture practices and fire suppression as well as the degradation of breeding ponds by ditching, off- road-vehicles use, and fish stocking;
2. Genetic isolation;
3. Inbreeding;
4. Drought.

March 2004

Conservation efforts:

1. It has been recommended the establishment of a 1000-m protected buffer around the primary breeding site and each of two other potential breeding ponds;
2. Recent growing-season burns around the remaining breeding pond have improved habitat conditions, but the frequency and extent of burning need to be improved;
3. There is the need to determine basic life history.