Overwintering Tadpoles in the California Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora draytonii)

Abstract/Summary

In California, overwintering tadpoles have been reported for only two ranid species: Rana muscosa (mountain yellow-legged frog) (Stebbins 1985) and R. catesbeiana (bullfrog) (Behler and King 1979; Leonard et al. 1993). Storer (1925) states that R. aurora spend 4 - 5 months as larvae with metamorphosis typically taking place between July and September. We report here our observations of Rana aurora draytonii (California red-legged frog) tadpoles overwintering at 11 sites spread over four counties in central coastal Cali-fornia. We define overwintering as spending the winter (No-vember - February) in the larval stage (< Gosner stage 40; Gosner 1960).