California Red-legged Frog

About the California Red-legged Frog

The California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) is a species of frog in the family Ranidae. The species is native to California (USA) and northern Baja California (Mexico). It was formerly considered a subspecies of the northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora). R. draytonii has an IUCN "Near Threatened" conservation status as of 2021, has a NatureServe conservation status of "Imperiled" as of 2015, and is a federally listed threatened species of the United States that is protected by law.

The California red-legged frog is found in California and extreme northern Baja California, northwestern Mexico. This species now occurs most commonly along the northern and southern Coast Ranges, and in isolated areas in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The current southernmost California populations are on the Santa Rosa Plateau in Riverside County, and within the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve in the Simi Hills in eastern Ventura County, near the community of West Hills. In 2015, egg masses from the nearby Simi Hills were introduced to two streams in the Santa Monica Mountains. Juvenile frogs were found living at the locations a year later. Wikipedia →