Pacific chorus frog

About the Pacific chorus frog

The Pacific tree frog (Pseudacris regilla), also known as the Pacific chorus frog, has a range spanning the Pacific Northwest, from Northern California, Oregon, and Washington to British Columbia in Canada and extreme southern Alaska. They live from sea level to more than 10,000 feet in many types of habitats, reproducing in aquatic settings. They occur in shades of greens or browns and can change colors over periods of hours and weeks. Before 2006, this was the only frog species in the world that makes a "ribbit" sound.

The taxonomy of this frog has a complex history. First, the frog was moved from the genus Hyla to the genus Pseudacris in 1986, and Hyliola in 2016 (an elevation of the subgenus which has not been widely accepted). In 2006, Recuero et al. split the frog into three species based on DNA evidence. Recuero et al. used incorrect names for two of the three populations, but subsequent authors established that the correct name (i.e., the oldest available name) for the northern component is Pseudacris regilla, for the central one Pseudacris sierra, and for the southern one Pseudacris hypochondriaca. This revision has been controversial but the evidence is supported... Wikipedia →