Distribution:
Found nearly statewide, except the extreme southeastern corner.
(,   Museum Voucher) (,   Observation) (,   Literature Record) (,   iNat Record), (  Fossil)
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Full range depicted by light shaded red area. Export Google Earth (.kml)

• Occurrence Summary:  
• 3,328
  Records 
• 2,554
  Museum Vouchers 
• 774
  Other Observations 

Some county occurrences indicated below may be too imprecise to map above.
County Breakdown: County Name (# occurrences):
Allen (15); Anderson (16); Atchison (6); Barber (80); Barton (45); Bourbon (8); Brown (12); Butler (41); Chase (68); Chautauqua (6); Cheyenne (13); Clark (28); Clay (23); Cloud (10); Coffey (120); Comanche (49); Cowley (39); Crawford (23); Decatur (5); Dickinson (12); Doniphan (11); Douglas (348); Edwards (6); Elk (26); Ellis (175); Ellsworth (36); Finney (34); Ford (28); Franklin (13); Geary (22); Gove (10); Graham (14); Grant (1); Gray (10); Greeley (1); Greenwood (75); Hamilton (9); Harper (45); Harvey (49); Haskell (4); Hodgeman (3); Jackson (33); Jefferson (30); Jewell (24); Johnson (64); Kearney (3); Kearny (2); Kingman (54); Kiowa (13); Labette (46); Lane (20); Leavenworth (39); Lincoln (9); Linn (12); Logan (23); Lyon (20); Marion (36); Marshall (25); McPherson (28); Meade (60); Miami (33); Mitchell (9); Montgomery (50); Morris (8); Morton (61); Nemaha (22); Neosho (15); Ness (25); Norton (4); Osage (38); Osborne (14); Ottawa (6); Pawnee (14); Phillips (17); Pottawatomie (54); Pratt (62); Rawlins (7); Reno (67); Republic (3); Rice (6); Riley (50); Rooks (5); Rush (15); Russell (76); Saline (23); Scott (23); Sedgwick (124); Seward (7); Shawnee (35); Sheridan (15); Sherman (49); Smith (2); Stafford (32); Stanton (4); Stevens (1); Sumner (63); Thomas (5); Trego (32); Unknown (3); Wabaunsee (66); Wallace (11); Washington (16); Wichita (1); Wilson (10); Woodson (51); Wyandotte (14);

Fossil History:
Fossils from the Williams Local Fauna of Rice County (Pleistocene: Illinoian) (Preston 1979, Holman 1984; Holman 1995), Sandahl Local Fauna of McPherson County (Pleistocene: Illinoian) (Holman 1971; Preston 1979; Holman 1995), Kanopolis Local Fauna of Ellsworth County (Pleistocene: Rancholabrean I) (Preston 1979, Holman 1972, Holman 1984; Holman 1995), Mount Scott Local Fauna of Meade County (Pleistocene: Illinoian) (Preston 1979, Holman 1987; Holman 1995), Butler Spring Local Fauna of Meade County (Pleistocene: Illinoian) (Tihen 1962; Preston 1979; Holman 1995), and Courtland Canal/Hall Ash local fauna of Jewell County (Rogers, 1982; Eshelman and Hager, 1984) are referable to this taxon.

Natural History:
This frog is found in nearly every aquatic situation, both permanent and temporary, and wanders great distances from water. After summer rains, adults and young engage in a mass exodus from breeding sites, traveling great distances in every direction; there is evidently no home range or territory.
The Plains Leopard Frog is active from February to October within a wide range of temperatures. Like the Northern Cricket Frog and the Western Chorus Frog, it is sometimes active during the winter. Fitch (1956) found this species wandering in his upland wooded study area within an air temperature range of 77-86°F. This amphibian digs into the mud and leaves of lake and stream bottoms during winter months and remains inactive until temperatures are favorable. Heinrich and Kaufman (1985) found several dead examples of this frog on the Konza Prairie on 16 March; apparently the victims had been active and were frozen to death by a rapid change in the weather.
This frog normally begins breeding as early as February and may continue into summer. The call consists of 2-4 repeated guttural notes chuuuck-chuuuck-chuuuck. Caldwell and Glass (1977) found evidence of fall breeding by this frog in Woodson County. Fitch (1958) recorded successive mass migrations of newly metamorphosed young and adults leaving an upland pond in northeastern Kansas but speculated that many perish when they fail to find suitable aquatic habitat during their wanderings.
During the breeding season, males chorus, attract females, and mount them by clasping the females behind their front limbs. Each female may lay up to 6,500 eggs in small masses attached to stems and plants just below the water's surface. The eggs hatch within three weeks, and the tadpoles may metamorphose during the summ er, or overwinter and transform the following spring. They breed in late spring in ponds and ditches where they deposit a large mass of eggs that float near the surface.
These frogs will forage far from water during the summer in search of invertebrate food.
The Plains Leopard Frog feeds primarily on nonaquatic insects. The stomachs of several Plains Leopard Frog examined by Hartman (1906) contained beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, a worm, water-snails, myriapods, and one solpugid.
Shirer and Fitch (1970) reported predation on the Plains Leopard Frog in Kansas by raccoons, opossums, and skunks.
Kirk (2001) listed the Plains Leopard Frog as common at Schermerhorn Park. At one point it was assumed that the Plains Leopard Frog occurred on the Ozark Plateau, however, since then all available specimens have been examined and determined to be Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus).

Occurrence Activity:
Number of Unique Obervations (=days): 256; Range: 02 Jan to 13 Dec

Chorusing:

Audio recording by Keith Coleman.

Chorusing Phenology: The black outlined dots denote the Julian date (day of the year; 1 January = 1 to 31 December = 365) an observation was made. The thin red line depicts the range of dates between the beginning of the first, and end of the fourth quartile (excluding outliers; Tukey method). The thick light blue bar represents the second and third quartile (interquartile range; the middle 50% of all observations). Only one observation per Julian date is included in the graphs; so a date with multiple observations carries the same weight as a date with only one observation. The vertical bars correspond to the 12 months of the year; January through December.
Number of Unique Obervations: 640; Range: 09 Mar to 31 Aug; Interquartile range: 14 Apr to 13 Jun;

Remarks:
First reported in Kansas by Hallowell (1857) based on specimen procured by William A. Hammond, then the doctor stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. At the time of this report, Kansas territory spread west to the continental divide. The earliest existing specimen (USNM 45922) was collected at Onaga, Pottawatomie County, in 1891 (collector unknown).
Largely confined to aquatic areas, but may travel significant distances over land during the mid-summer.
Burt (1935) reported that Mr. Cornelius Rogers found a Plain-bellied Watersnake (Nerodia erythrogaster) feeding on Plains Leopard Frogs (Rana blairi) in Barber County, Kansas, on 7 April 1934.
The Plains Leopard Frog is known to hybridize with the Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus) in southeastern Kansas, particularly in Woodson County (Collins 1993). This hybridization normally occurs at or near impoundments of human construction where environmental barriers are eliminated which would normally separate the two species (Collins 1993).