NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Crawfish Frog
Lithobates areolatus (Baird & Girard, 1852)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The crawfish frog (Lithobates areolatus) is a medium-sized species of frog native to the prairies and grasslands of the central United States. It gets its name because it inhabits the burrows of crayfish for most of the year. They have defined golden or black circles all over their body.
Wikipedia contributors, Crawfish frog; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:32:23.845512+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lithobates areolatus (Baird & Girard, 1852)
- Name authority
- (Baird & Girard, 1852)
- Common name
- Crawfish Frog
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Amphibia
- Order
- Anura
- Family
- Ranidae
- Genus
- Lithobates
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAmphibia
- orderAnura
- familyRanidae Batsch, 1796
- genusLithobates Fitzinger, 1843
- speciesLithobates areolatus (Baird & Girard, 1852)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Lithobates. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Lithobates dunni (Zweifel, 1957) | RanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Vegas Valley Leopard FrogLithobates fisheri (Stejneger, 1893) | RanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lithobates lemosespinali (Smith & Chiszar, 2003) | RanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lithobates lenca (Luque-Montes, Austin, Weinfurther, Wilson, Hofmann & Townsend, 2018) | RanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lithobates macroglossa (Brocchi, 1877) | RanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lithobates miadis (Barbour & Loveridge, 1929) | RanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lithobates neovolcanicus (Hillis & Frost, 1985) | RanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pickerel FrogLithobates palustris (LeConte, 1825) | RanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lithobates pustulosus (Boulenger, 1883) | RanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lithobates spectabilis (Hillis & Frost, 1985) | RanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Southern Leopard FrogLithobates sphenocephalus (Cope, 1886) | RanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Tarahumara FrogLithobates tarahumarae (Boulenger, 1917) | RanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Lithobates areolatus areolatus (Baird & Girard, 1852) (Baird & Girard, 1852) | synonym |
| Lithobates areolatus circulosus (Rice & Davis, 1878) (Rice & Davis, 1878) | synonym |
| Rana areolata circulosa Rice & Davis, 1878 Rice & Davis, 1878 | synonym |
| Rana areolata areolata Baird & Girard, 1852 Baird & Girard, 1852 | synonym |
| Rana areolata Baird & Girard, 1852 Baird & Girard, 1852 | synonym |
| Rana circulosa Rice & Davis, 1878 Rice & Davis, 1878 | synonym |
| Rana virescens areolata Baird & Girard, 1852 Baird & Girard, 1852 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=775078 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3VHPM. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.