Complete Title: A New North American Chorus Frog Species (Pseudacris: Hylidae:
Amphibia) from the South-Central United States
Authors: Emily M. Lemmon, Alan R. Lemmon, Joseph T. Collins, and David C. Cannatella
Journal where published: Zootaxa 1675: 1-30 (2008)
A new North American chorus frog has been discovered and officially described in the
journal Zootaxa. Dubbed the CAJUN CHORUS FROG by its discoverer's, the small one-inch
amphibian is known from western Mississippi, all of Louisiana and Arkansas, eastern
Texas and Oklahoma, and extreme southern Missouri (Ripley County). It ranges to within a
few miles of the Kansas border in eastern Oklahoma. The new species has a distinct call,
distinct appearance, and is distinct genetically based on analysis of DNA evidence. The
scientific name of this new chorus frog is Pseudacris fouquettei (pronounced Sue-Day-
Kris, Foe-Kett-Tie), named for Martin J. Fouquette, a retired professor of biology at
Arizona State University and well-known herpetologist, whose earlier research on these
amphibians paved the way for those that followed.
The last new species of frog discovered in the United States was the Florida Bog Frog (Rana
okaloosae), officially described as new to science in 1985 by Paul E. Moler.
A color image of the new Cajun Chorus Frog may be viewed at
http://www.cnah.org/detail.asp?id=1374
*****
Emily Moriarty Lemmon and Alan R. Lemmon both recently received their doctoral degrees
from the University of Texas at Austin. They have both accepted post-doctoral
appointments at the University of California at Davis. (contact: 402-651-2499;
emlemmon@ucdavis.edu)
Joseph T. Collins is a herpetologist with the Kansas Biological Survey, University of Kansas,
Lawrence, and curator of herpetology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort
Hays State University, Hays, Kansas. He is co-author of the Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles
and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. (contact: 785-393-4757;
jcollins@ku.edu)
David C. Cannatella is curator of herpetology at the Texas Memorial Museum and
professor in the Section of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas, Austin. (contact:
(512) 232-4862; catfish@mail.utexas.edu)
*****
NEWS MEDIA NOTE: A high resolution color image of the Cajun Chorus Frog by Suzanne L.
Collins is available gratis by contacting Joe Collins at
jcollins@ku.edu
Credit must be given for its use, as follows: Suzanne L. Collins, CNAH
*****
A gratis PDF of this article is available from the CNAH PDF Library at
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp
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