biology

Vegas Valley leopard frog

Vegas Valley leopard frog is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Vegas Valley leopard frog rather than just read about it. In short: The Vegas Valley leopard frog (Lithobates fisheri), also known as the Las Vegas leopard frog, is an extinct species of frog. It once occurred in the Las Vegas Valley, as well as Tule Springs, Clark County, southern Nevada in the United States, at elevations between 370 and 760 m (1,210 and 2,490 ft).

Key takeaways

Vegas Valley leopard frog belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Vegas Valley leopard frog to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Vegas Valley leopard frog from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Vegas Valley leopard frog (Lithobates fisheri), also known as the Las Vegas leopard frog, is an extinct species of frog. It once occurred in the Las Vegas Valley, as well as Tule Springs, Clark County, southern Nevada in the United States, at elevations between 370 and 760 m (1,210 and 2,490 ft). It was believed to be the only frog endemic 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 using mitochondrial DNA from preserved museum specimens of the Vegas Valley leopard frog revealed it forms a clade with the northwestern Mogollon Rim populations of the Chiricahua leopard frog (Lithobates chiricahuensis), which is extant but threatened. The authors argue that while it has been extirpated from the Las Vegas area, the frog is not extinct because populations formerly ascribed to the Chiricahua leopard frog actually belong to the Vegas Valley leopard frog. However, subsequent population genetic analyses using microsatellites have failed to recover the same patterns, calling into question whether these populations are ascribable to the Vegas Valley leopard frog. The 2021 revision of the IUCN Red List assessment does not recognize the northwestern Mogollon Rim populations as belonging to the Vegas Valley leopard frog and lists the species as extinct. The close relation of the Vegas Valley leopard frog to populations of the Chiricahua leopard frog has called into question whether the two represent distinct species, and some contemporary authors treat the two as conspecific. According to nomenclatural priority, L. chiricahuensis, described in 1979, would be referable to the 1893-described L. fisheri. However, multiple authorities still refer to the two as distinct species.

References

Further reading Hillis, D.M., Frost, J.S., & Wright, D.A. (1983). Phylogeny and biogeography of the Rana pipiens complex: A biochemical evaluation. Systematic Zoology 32: 132–143. Hillis, D.M. (1988). Systematics of the Rana pipiens complex: Puzzle and paradigm. Annual Review of Systematics and Ecology 19: 39–63. Hillis, D.M. & Wilcox, T.P. (2005). Phylogeny of the New World true frogs (Rana). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 34(2): 299–314. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.007 PDF fulltext Archived 2008-05-28 at the Wayback Machine. Hillis, D. M. (2007). Constraints in naming parts of the Tree of Life. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 42: 331–338.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Vegas Valley leopard frog

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Vegas Valley leopard frog claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Vegas Valley leopard frog before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Vegas Valley leopard frog ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Vegas Valley leopard frog

In research: Vegas Valley leopard frog appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Vegas Valley leopard frog in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Vegas Valley leopard frog is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Amphibians described in 1893, Amphibians of North America, Endemic amphibians of the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Vegas Valley leopard frog outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Vegas Valley leopard frog in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Vegas Valley leopard frog means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Vegas Valley leopard frog out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vegas Valley leopard frog in simple terms?

Why does Vegas Valley leopard frog matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Vegas Valley leopard frog?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Vegas Valley leopard frog.