American Bullfrog ²

The American Bullfrog is the largest frog in North America. It is a common species at the Arboretum, often seen sunning on logs and lily pads at our ponds and swamp. Color is highly variable, ranging from nearly black to yellowish green, but there is usually heavy mottling and the face is often green. Note the fold of skin starting at the back of the eye and curving around the tympanum (ear drum) - this distinguishes the Bullfrog from the similar Bronze Frog, which has a fold of skin that runs from the eye all the way along the back to the rear legs. Bullfrog tadpoles are huge and take nearly one year to fully transform into adult frogs. The call is a deep, loud bellowing sound (like someone with a deep voice saying "BROOM, BROOM, BROOM..."): http://www.californiaherps.com/frogs/pages/l.catesbeianus.sounds.html

Sources and Credits

1. (c) copepodo, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/63661371@N00/2838159004
2. Adapted by hancnaturalist from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithobates_catesbeianus

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• AMNH Amphibian Species of the World
• AmphibiaWeb
• Animal Diversity Web
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• CalPhotos
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HerpMapper
• Maryland Biodiversity Project
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• NBN Atlas
• Ninnescah Life
• VertNet
• 日本のレッドデータ検索システム

iNat Map