U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Mississippi Gopher Frog Fact Sheet (Rana capito sevosa distinct population segment of Rana capito)

Endangered Species Listing: Range: Habitat: In 2001, the Mississippi gopher frog The MGF is thought to have occurred The Mississippi gopher frog’s habitat distinct population segment (DPS) in at least nine counties or parishes includes both upland forested areas, was listed under the Endangered from Louisiana’s lower coastal plain historically dominated by longleaf pine, Species Act (Act) as an endangered east of the Mississippi River to the and temporary wetlands imbedded species. A DPS is a discrete and Mobile River delta in Alabama. It has within the forested landscape. Adult significant conservation sub-unit of a not been observed in Louisiana since and juvenile gopher frogs spend the species. An endangered species is one 1965 or in Alabama since 1922. The majority of their lives underground that is in danger of becoming extinct Mississippi gopher frog is presently in forests with an open canopy and throughout all or a significant portion of known to survive in only Harrison and abundant ground cover. They currently its range. After an endangered species Jackson counties in Mississippi. use abandoned mammal burrows and is identified and protected under the holes in and under old pine tree stumps Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as below-ground retreats. In the past, endangered species program begins the historic Mississippi gopher frogs also used work of restoring the species and its current active and abandoned gopher tortoise habitat through the recovery process. populations burrows. However, due to the rarity of the tortoise, their burrows are not Louisiana Alabama Appearance: currently available in habitat occupied The Mississippi gopher frog (MGF) is a Mississippi by the frogs. Gopher frog breeding mid-sized, stocky, frog with a total body sites are isolated ponds which dry out length of about three inches. Its back is completely at certain times of the year covered with dark spots and warts, and giving them a temporary presence in ranges from black to brown or gray in the landscape. Substantial winter rains color. are needed to ensure that the ponds Threats: are filled sufficiently to allow hatching The primary threats to the MGF are and development of juvenile frogs. The habitat fragmentation/destruction, timing and frequency of rainfall are fire suppression, the low number critical to the successful reproduction of remaining individual frogs, and and recruitment of the MGF. environmental variability. Outside of occupied habitat and those areas managed as future translocation sites, potential gopher frog habitat continues to decline through fragmentation and destruction, primarily as a result of urbanization from residential and commercial development. Frequent fires are necessary to maintain photo: ©John Tupy photo: Adult Mississippi Gopher Frog (MGF) the open canopy and ground cover vegetation of Mississippi gopher frog Tadpoles are dark greenish brown with habitat. However, the use of fire as spotted round bodies and long, wide a management tool has declined due ©John Tupy photo: tails. They are difficult to tell apart to concerns about smoke and public MGF upland habitat from tadpoles of the more common safety in expanding urban areas. leopard frog. The low numbers of frogs in the existing populations have increased the potential of genetic isolation and inbreeding. The combination of decreasing amounts of suitable habitat and low population numbers makes the Mississippi gopher frog’s survival more difficult in the face of extreme environmental events such as drought. photo: Linda LaClaire photo: photo: ©John Tupy photo: MGF tapdole MGF breeding habitat U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

What has been done to work towards Mississippi gopher frog recovery? The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been working on a number of recovery projects with the following partners: the Memphis Zoo along with other zoos involved in the American Zoo Association’s program for the species, the U.S. Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Mississippi Natural Science ©John Tupy photo: Museum, The Nature Conservancy, Tracking MGF at night using fluorescent powder and researchers with Southeastern photo: Ed Moody photo: Louisiana University, University of Restoring ponds for use as MGF New Orleans, University of Southern relocation sites Mississippi, Eastern Carolina University, and Eastern Kentucky University. The recovery projects include: n Raising frogs from tadpoles in tanks placed adjacent to breeding sites. n Improving occupied sites through controlled burning and shrub

removal. ©John Tupy photo: Tracking MGF during the day using n Restoring currently unsuitable radio-telemetry (transmitter is black photo: ©Mike Sisson photo: object at rear of frog) temporary ponds for use as A newly constructed potential MGF relocation sites. breeding pond How many Mississippi gopher n Constructing new potential frogs remain in the wild? breeding ponds. At this time, there are only two natural breeding populations of the Mississippi n Holding a genetically diverse gopher frog. A single male gopher frog population in zoos and working on was heard calling at a third site in 2004, captive propagation. however, no additional observations of the species have been made there since. n Establishing new populations in A fourth site is currently occupied by the wild. the Mississippi gopher frog as a result of efforts to establish a population by n Tracking gopher frogs in their translocating frogs from the primary upland habitats using fluorescent breeding pond. The total adult powder and radio-telemetry. Mississippi gopher frog population in the wild is estimated to be less than 100 individuals.

January 2012 photo: ©Steve Reichling photo: MGF tadpoles held in zoos photo: Linda LaClaire photo: Tanks for raising MGF tadpoles