Rana temporaria

For the first time, including for the territory of Russian Federation, data are presented on the defensive behavior of the marsh frog Pelophylax ridibundus (Pallas, 1771) from the Republic of Mordovia and the Astrakhan region, which occurs in two variants, namely, with raising the body and protecting the eyes. The defensive behavior of the common frog Rana temporaria Linnaeus, 1758 from the Republic of Mordovia consists of covering the eyes with the fingers of the forelimbs and is encountered in the literature as “wintering”.

In the Rana temporaria population introduced into the south of Kamchatka, high variation in the rate of larval growth and development was revealed, due to differences between spawning pools, some of which being fed by thermal groundwater. As a consequence, the variability in the timing of metamorphosis was also high and comparable to that detected in populations of the native part of the range with a longer period of activity. In the tadpoles of R.

The results of our first short-term study of a unique Rana temporaria population in May, 2015, are reported. This population was formed in the southern Kamchatka as a result of releasing 150 immature frogs in the spring of 2005. The numbers of breeding females was 2,648 in 2015. The activity season duration at the release locality (4 months) is 2 months shorter than that at the original locality of the translocated frogs in Moscow district.

This paper describes new methods for obtaining viable ovulated oocytes and testicular sperm from the carcasses of females and males of the common frog Rana temporaria, stored at +4ºС for 1–7 days. In addition, a new approach to delayed collection (1 to 30 days) of ovulated oocytes from live female frogs of the same species is given. Part of the frog testicular spermatozoa is shown to retain motility (21.0±1.5%) and fertilizing ability (13.2±1.9%) even after 6 days of storage at +4°C in the carcasses of males.

The paper discusses the results of our study of the variability of some morphometric and reproductive characteristics in the common brown frog, Rana temporaria, from two populations of the Moscow city. The first population exists in isolation in the Timiryazev Forest Park, for a long time surrounded by districts with multi-storey buildings. The second population is located on the territory with mainly rural buildings (the settlement Kokoshkino), recently annexed to Moscow. The size and reproductive parameters in frogs from these two localities were compared.

With the help of artificial inter-population crosses of adult Rana temporaria from four spatially remote populations of the European part of the species' range, the magnitude and direction of changes in metamorphic traits were estimated.

A record of Rana temporaria on the ice cover of the Gulf of Finland is described. Frog slowly moved on the ice surface with speed around 0.03 m/s. Air temperature near ice surface was +3.5°C, and the frog body temperature was +4°C. In the Saint Petersburg region, common frogs can hibernate in the coastal waters of Baltic Sea with salinity of  0 – 5.8‰.