{{Short description|Species of amphibian}} {{for|the critically endangered frog|Mississippi gopher frog}} {{Speciesbox | image = Gopher frog (Rana capito) Madden Haag.jpg | image_caption = Gopher frog (Lithobates capito) | status = VU | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref=<ref name="iucn status 9 December 2022">{{cite iucn |author=IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group |date=2022 |title=''Lithobates capito'' |volume=2022 |article-number=e.T58564A118981594 |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/58564/118981594 |access-date=22 December 2022}}</ref> | status2 = G2 | status2_system = TNC | status2_ref = <ref name=NS>{{cite NatureServe |id=2.105963 |title=''Lithobates capito'' |access-date=7 March 2025}}</ref> | taxon = Lithobates capito | authority = Le Conte, 1855 | synonyms = * ''Rana capito'' <small>LeConte, 1855</small>
}}
The '''gopher frog''' ('''''Lithobates capito''''')<ref>{{cite web |url=http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/ |title= American Museum of Natural History: Amphibian Species of the World 5.5, an Online Reference |author=Frost, Darrel |author-link=Darrel R. Frost |year=2011 |work=Herpetology |publisher=The American Museum of Natural History |access-date=2013-02-17}}</ref> is a species of frog in the family Ranidae, endemic to the southeastern United States. It primarily inhabits the threatened sandhill communities, flatwoods, and scrub in the Atlantic coastal plain,<ref name="USGS">{{cite web|author=United States Geological Survey|title=Rana capito|url=https://cars.er.usgs.gov/herps/Frogs_and_Toads/R_capito/r_capito.html|access-date=2007-09-04}}</ref> where it is usually found near ponds.<ref name="GAWildlifeWeb">{{cite web|author=Georgia Museum of Natural History |title=Gopher Frog (Rana capito) |url=http://museum.nhm.uga.edu/gawildlife/amphibians/anura/ranidae/rcapito.html |access-date=2007-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061018045239/http://museum.nhm.uga.edu/gawildlife/amphibians/anura/ranidae/rcapito.html |archive-date=October 18, 2006 }}</ref>
==Subspecies== Its two subspecies include the Carolina gopher frog (''L. c. capito''), and Florida gopher frog (''L. c. aesopus''). The dusky gopher frog ''(L. sevosus)'', also known as the Mississippi gopher frog, had previously been considered a subspecies, but was elevated to species status in 2001.<ref name="AWeb">{{cite web|author=Stephen C. Richter and Rebecca A. Doubledee|year=2001|title=Rana sevosa|publisher=AmphibiaWeb|url=http://www.amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?where-genus=Rana&where-species=sevosa&account=amphibiaweb|access-date=2008-08-05}}</ref>
==Range== Gopher frogs occur along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States from southern North Carolina to peninsular Florida. The gopher frog's range extends west along the Gulf Coast to the Tombigbee River in Alabama. The Florida gopher frog is restricted to peninsular Florida.<ref name="iucn status 9 December 2022"/> Today, gopher frogs' distribution is patchy, owing greatly to loss of longleaf pine forest communities.<ref name="iucn status 9 December 2022"/>
==Ecology== Within the flatwoods, xeric longleaf pine–turkey oak communities, sand pine scrub and oak hammocks they call home, gopher frogs move between mass breeding sites in ephemeral or semi-permanent wetlands and summer upland habitat. In these non-breeding times, gopher frogs frequently inhabit gopher tortoise burrows,<ref name="iucn status 9 December 2022"/> as well as the tunnels of burrowing crayfish<ref name="GAWildlifeWeb"/> or rodents,<ref name="iucn status 9 December 2022"/> or holes associated with felled longleaf pine trees as has been observed in North Carolina.<ref name=humphriessisson2012>{{cite journal|last1=Humphries|first1=W. Jeffrey|last2=Sisson|first2=Michael A.|title=Long Distance Migrations, Landscape Use, and Vulnerability to Prescribed Fire of the Gopher Frog (''Lithobates capito'')|journal=Journal of Herpetology|volume=46|issue=4|pages=665–670|doi=10.1670/11-124|year=2012}}</ref> Migration out of the breeding habitats typically occurs at night when it is raining,<ref name="iucn status 9 December 2022"/> and frogs have been recorded moving up to {{convert|3.5|km|mi}} into their summer refugia. While en route in migrations through mid-May, gopher frogs may be vulnerable to mortality associated with prescribed burns and predation.<ref name=humphriessisson2012/>
===Predation=== In Florida, gopher frogs may be eaten by some growth stage of invasive snakes like Burmese pythons, reticulated pythons, Southern African rock pythons, Central African rock pythons, boa constrictors, yellow anacondas, Bolivian anacondas, dark-spotted anacondas, and green anacondas.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Final Environmental Assessment For The Large Constrictor Snakes Listed As Injurious Wildlife under the Lacey Act|date=January 2012|publisher=U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service}}</ref>
==Conservation status== Gopher frogs' primary threats include loss of habitat and fire suppression. It is entirely dependent upon small vernal pools for its annual reproduction.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Richter S. C., Young J. E., Johnson G. N., Seigel R. A. | year = 2003 | title = Stochastic variation in reproductive success of a rare frog, Rana sevosa: implications for conservation and for monitoring amphibian populations | url = | journal = Biological Conservation | volume = 111 | issue = 2| pages = 171–7 | doi = 10.1016/S0006-3207(02)00260-4 | bibcode = 2003BCons.111..171R }}</ref> These pools in pine flatwoods are being lost to development, and to fire suppression, which allows forests to invade the natural savanna habitat. Hence, prescribed burns and habitat acquisition are considered key management strategies for its survival.<ref name="FNAI">{{cite web|author=Florida Natural Areas Inventory |year=2001 |title=Gopher Frog (Rana capito) |publisher=Field Guide to the Rare Animals of Florida |url=http://www.fnai.org/FieldGuide/pdf/Rana_capito.pdf |access-date=2007-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927142004/http://www.fnai.org/FieldGuide/pdf/Rana_capito.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-27 }}</ref>
==Footnotes== {{Reflist}}
==References== * {{cite journal | author = Hillis D.M., Frost J.S., Wright D.A. | year = 1983 | title = Phylogeny and biogeography of the ''Rana pipiens'' complex: A biochemical evaluation | url = | journal = Systematic Zoology | volume = 32 | issue = 2| pages = 132–143 | doi = 10.2307/2413277 | jstor = 2413277 | bibcode = 1983SysZ...32..132H }} * {{cite journal | author = Hillis D.M. | year = 1988 | title = Systematics of the ''Rana pipiens'' complex: Puzzle and paradigm | url = | journal = Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics| volume = 19 | issue = 1| pages = 39–63 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.es.19.110188.000351 | bibcode = 1988AnRES..19...39H }} * {{cite journal | pmid=15619443 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.007 | volume=34 | title=Phylogeny of the New World true frogs (Rana) | date=February 2005 | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | pages=299–314 | author=Hillis DM, Wilcox TP | issue=2 | bibcode=2005MolPE..34..299H | url=http://www.cnah.org/pdf_files/215.pdf | archive-date=2008-05-28 | access-date=2017-03-23 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528131608/http://www.cnah.org/pdf_files/215.pdf | url-status=dead }} * {{cite journal | author = Hillis D. M. | year = 2007 | title = Constraints in naming parts of the Tree of Life | url = | journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume = 42 | issue = 2| pages = 331–338 | doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.08.001 | pmid = 16997582 | bibcode = 2007MolPE..42..331H }}
==External links== {{Wikispecies|Rana capito}} {{Commons category|Lithobates capito}} * [http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw295 Gopher Frogs, Burrows, and Fire: Interactions in the Longleaf Pine Ecosystem] - 2009 University of Florida Fact Sheet *{{CalPhotos|Rana|capito}}
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Category:Lithobates Category:Amphibians of North America Category:Amphibians described in 2006 Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Category:Taxa named by John Eatton Le Conte