New record of California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) in Whitewater Canyon, Riverside County, CA, USA
Dates
Publication Date
2017-11-30
Start Date
2017-02
End Date
2017-06
Citation
Backlin, A.R., Richmond, J.Q., Gallegos, E.A., Christensen, C.K., and Fisher, R.N., 2017, New record of California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) in Whitewater Canyon, Riverside County, CA, USA: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7C82870.
Summary
In February 2017, a population of California red-legged frog Rana draytonii was discovered in the southern foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains of Riverside County, California, near the edge of the species’ historic distribution. A few days after the first sightings of R. draytonii at the Whitewater Preserve, we conducted a visual daytime search for frogs, tadpoles and egg masses followed by a nighttime eye shine search for adult frogs. The captured frog weighed, measured (snout-to-urostyle [SU]), sampled for tissue and georeferenced using a GPS unit. Survey work was authorized by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Recovery Permit and a California Department of Fish and Wildlife Scientific Collecting Permit. To better understand [...]
Summary
In February 2017, a population of California red-legged frog Rana draytonii was discovered in the southern foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains of Riverside County, California, near the edge of the species’ historic distribution. A few days after the first sightings of R. draytonii at the Whitewater Preserve, we conducted a visual daytime search for frogs, tadpoles and egg masses followed by a nighttime eye shine search for adult frogs. The captured frog weighed, measured (snout-to-urostyle [SU]), sampled for tissue and georeferenced using a GPS unit. Survey work was authorized by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Recovery Permit and a California Department of Fish and Wildlife Scientific Collecting Permit.
To better understand the origin of these frogs, we extracted DNA from a small toe clip using a Qiagen® DNeasy Kit (Qiagen Inc., Valencia CA) and Sanger-sequenced a region of the cytochrome b mitochondrial gene (986 base-pairs) that has been used to good effect for identifying regionally specific 67 mtDNA clades (Richmond et al. 2014). Sequencing was performed on a 3730xl DNA Analyzer at Genewiz (La Jolla, CA). We used DnaSP 5.10 (Librado & Rozas 2009) to match the haplotype sequence against a large cytochrome B database representing the full range of R. draytonii.
These data are associated with the following publciation:
Backlin, A., Richmond, J., Gallegos, E., Christensen, C., and Fisher, R. (2017). An extirpated lineage of a threatened frog species resurfaces in southern California. Oryx, 1-5. doi:10.1017/S0030605317001168
These data are associated with the following GenBank accession number: MG022156
References:
Richmond, J.Q., Backlin, A.R., Tatarian, P.J., Solvesky, B.G., and Fisher, R.N. (2014) Population declines lead to replicate patterns of internal range structure at the tips of the distribution of the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii). Biological Conservation, 172, 128-137.
Librado, P. & Rozas, J. (2009) DnaSP v5: a software for comprehensive analysis of DNA polymorphism data. Bioinformatics, 25, 1451-1452.
These data can be used to promote conservation of the federally threatened California red-legged frog.
Rights
The authors of these data require that data users contact them regarding intended use and to assist with understanding limitations and interpretation. Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
