The showy leopard frog (''Lithobates spectabilis'') is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

in the family Ranidae

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to Mexico. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are subtropical or tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

s, freshwater

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s, and water storage areas. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

References

* (1983): Phylogeny and biogeography of the ''Rana pipiens'' complex: A biochemical evaluation. ''Systematic Zoology'' 32: 132–143. * (1985): Three new species of leopard frogs (''Rana pipiens'' complex) from the Mexican Plateau. ''Occ. Pap. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas'' 117: 1–14. * (1988): Systematics of the ''Rana pipiens'' complex: Puzzle and paradigm. ''Annual Review of Systematics and Ecology'' 19: 39–63. * (2005): Phylogeny of the New World true frogs (''Rana''). '' Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 34(2): 299–314. PDF fulltext
* (2007) Constraints in naming parts of the Tree of Life. '' Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 42: 331–338. Lithobates Endemic amphibians of Mexico Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Amphibians described in 1985 Fauna of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt {{Ranidae-stub