Search Wildlife
≡
Photo by Krissy Wilson
Photo Courtesy of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Columbia Spotted Frog
Rana luteiventris
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G4
State (S-rank): S2
External links
Species range
(The Columbia spotted frog occurs in scattered locations in the Bonneville Basin of western Utah, including parts of the Wasatch Mountains, the San Pitch River Drainage, and isolated springs and wetlands of the West Desert (Fig. 31). GVO, 2002)
Habitat
Populations are tied to aquatic habitat with perennial sources of water. Breeding invariably occurs in small pools or ponds. Typically, breeding sites have little or no current and are surrounded by dense aquatic vegetation. Floating mats of vegetation are often present, and the bottom substrate is typically deep, fine silt (Morris and Tanner 1969, Ross et al. 1993, Ross et al. 1994).
Morris and Tanner (1969), who studied this species in Utah, Sanpete, and Juab counties, reported "several features which [their study areas] have in common": "Each observed site [inhabited by this species] is a small permanent pond of water which has a continual source of water. Because of their low level and seep springs inflow, the ponds seldom have an external outlet; therefore, very little movement results because of flow of water through them. As a result each pond is made up of standing water with a deep silt or muck bottom in which frogs presumably hibernate iduring the winter.
Stonewort, Chara sp., makes up the dominant aquatic vegetation and forms a complete mat covering over the bottom of the pond. Cattails, Typha sp., are present in the deeper parts of each pond, and provide a cool, moist place for adult frogs to feed during the warmer summer months. By the end of June Spirogyra sp. is usually common in water providing an excellent place for hiding and a source for food for developing tadpoles, which can normally be found within or beneath floating vegetation."
Ross et al. (1993), studying this species along the Wasatch Front, summarized habitats occupied by this species as "wetlands with small, clear, cold-water habitats where shallow water was present with an abundance of herbaceous emergent vegetation." Ross et al. (1994), studying this species in the West Desert (Millard, Juab, and Tooele counties), found considerable variation in temperature, salinity (conductivity), and acidity (pH) in spring habitats utilized by this species in that part of the state, with the occupied aquatic sites in Tule Valley being relatively warm, saline, and basic (alkaline) while those in Snake and Deep Creek valleys were lower in temperature, conductivity, and acidity.
Food habits
From the stomachs of three Utah County specimens of this species, Tanner (1931) reported beetles of two families (Carabidae and Dytiscidae), moths (Noctuidae), ants, flies, water striders, and one "sow bug" (either an isopod crustacean or, possibly, a pill millipede--the latter often being confused with isopods), as well as plant materials probably ingested accidentally.
Threats or limiting factors
(Populations are vulnerable to the loss and degradation of aquatic habitat. Historically, wetland destruction associated with urban expansion resulted in the loss of populations at lower elevations along the Wasatch Front. Remaining montane and desert wetland habitat are all affected by water withdrawal, pollution, livestock use, or nonnative species, and combinations of these threats are usual. GVO, 2002)
