The Vegas Valley leopard frog (''Lithobates fisheri''), also known as the Las Vegas leopard frog, is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

species of frog. It once occurred in the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Stat ...

, as well as

Tule Springs Tule Springs is one of the larger urban retreats in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Las Vegas Valley. It is a significant desert ecosystem consisting of a series of small lakes that formed an oasis in this area of the Mojave Desert. Both the springs ...

, Clark County, southern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, at elevations between . It was believed to be the only frog

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the United States to have become extinct in modern times.

History

A. Vanderhorst collected 10 specimens of this species at Tule Springs on January 13, 1942. These frogs were believed to be the last recorded specimens of the Vegas Valley leopard frog, and are now in the University of Michigan Museum of Comparative Zoology collection. The Vegas Valley leopard frog was considered extinct after extensive searches have failed to locate the species.

Taxonomy

In 2011, a

genetic analysis Genetic analysis is the overall process of studying and researching in fields of science that involve genetics and molecular biology. There are a number of applications that are developed from this research, and these are also considered parts of ...

using DNA from preserved museum specimens of the Vegas Valley leopard frog revealed it is 100% identical genetically to the northwestern Mogollon Rim populations of the

Chiricahua leopard frog The Chiricahua leopard frog (''Lithobates chiricahuensis'' syn. ''Rana chiricahuensis'') is a species of frog in the family Ranidae, the true frogs. Distribution and habitat It is native to Mexico and the United States (Arizona and New Mexico) ...

(''Lithobates chiricahuensis''), which is

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

but threatened. While it has been

extirpated Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

from the Las Vegas area, the frog is no longer considered extinct because it is the same species as the Chiricahua leopard frog. According to nomenclatural priority, the northwestern Mogollon Rim population of ''L. chiricahuensis'', described in 1979, is referable to the 1893-described, extinct population of the species, ''L. fisheri''. ''L. chiricahuensis'' may remain a valid taxon for the southern and eastern range of the Chiricahua leopard frog. Though what many may assume is that just because an identical species of the Vegas Valley leopard frog was discovered, many may not know that the Chiricahua leopard frog is actually endangered and listed under the federal threatened page. The claim that ''L. fisheri'' is synonymous with ''L. chiricahuensis'' has for the most part been rejected after the fact. Apparently, two separate species are within the ''L. fisheri/L. chiricahuensis'' complex - ''L. fisheri'', comprising the former Vegas Valley leopard frogs near Las Vegas and the Chiricahua leopard frogs from the Mogollon Rim, and ''L. chiricahuensis'', comprising the Chiricahua leopard frogs from the southern and eastern portions of the range in Arizona and New Mexico. The status of the Chiricahua leopard frog in northern Mexico may be uncertain, and this may be yet another separate lineage. The ''L. fisheri/L. chiricahuensis'' complex has a close relationship with an unnamed leopard frog species called "''Lithobates'' species 2" known from

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

History

Taxonomy

References

Further reading