About Lithobates blairi (Mecham, Littlejohn, Oldham, Brown & Brown, 1973)
The plains leopard frog (Lithobates blairi) reaches a length of 2.0 to 4.3 inches (5.1 to 10.9 cm), and is typically brown in color. Its common name comes from the distinctive irregular dark spots on its back. This frog has long, powerful legs that allow it to leap great distances. Its spots are brown or greenish brown, and do not have white rings around them. A distinct white line runs above the sides of its jaw. The lines running along the sides of the back are broken toward the rear, with the short broken section located closer to the center of the back. The frog often has a white spot in the center of its tympanum, and a dark spot on the tip of its snout. As its common name suggests, the plains leopard frog is distributed across the Great Plains of the United States. Its range extends from Indiana west across the central and southern plains to South Dakota, and south to Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. There is also a separate disjunct population in Arizona.
