I

Asiatic Herpetological Research

April 1990

Vol. 3, pp. 60-63

Mating Call Structures of the Chinese Frog, Rana nigromaculata(Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae)

YONG MU AND ERMI ZHAO
11

^Chengdu Institute of Biology. P.O. Box 416, Academia Sinica, Chengdu, China
Abstract. -Mating calls of the Chinese Pond Frog, Rana nigromaculata at three localities were recordedand compared. The calls of R. nigromaculata are short in duration and consist of a few notes. Each note
has several distinct pulses. The call structures of northern and central China are different from those ofSichuan, hence we tentatively regard them as different subspecies.

Key words: Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae, Rana nigromaculata, mating calls.

Introduction

temperature was 22°C.

Rana nigromaculata occurs widely in theAmur and Ussuri river valleys(USSR), Korea, Japan, and throughoutlowernortheastern and midwestern China. In
China it occurs in all but Xinjiang, Tibet
and Guangxi autonomous regions, andYunnan, Taiwan, and Hainan provinces.
As far as we know, no paper has been
published in China analyzing the matingcalls of Chinese anurans.

The mating call of frogs is a useful clue
revealing systematic and evolutionary

The calls of 10 males were recorded atWofoshi, Xiangshan Park, Beijing, on 28
May. Male frogs were found calling insurroundings similar to those of frogs in

Hubei Province. The water temperature
was 24°C.
Temperature records were always takenCalls wererecorded with a Sony TCS-370 cassetterecorder and a Feidec TSM-91 microphone.
Sonograms were prepared with Kay 7800
in the vicinity of calling males.

relationships. Vocalizations are speciesspecific in anurans, and serve as isolatingand Kay 7900 sonographs.
For theofstandardcalls,(2.56analysismatingsec) sonograms with a 150 Hz bandwidthmechanisms. Therefore, some taxonomic

filter were used.

inrevisions have been based primarily on calldifferences[seeKuramato (1977)

forreview].

Methods
Calls of Rana nigromaculata wererecorded in 1988 at three localities. Several
calls of a single male were recorded on 19March, in the suburbs of Hongya County,
about 100 km southwest of Chengdu,
Sichuan Province. The frog was callingfrom a stone near water.
The waterwas19°C.
temperature

A number of calls from three males wereat East Lake Park, Wuchang,Wuhan, Hubei Province on 17 June. The

recordedfrogs called while standing in shallow
water shaded by grass.
The water© 1990 by Asiatic Herpetological Research

When a call was composed of several
groups of pulses, each group was termed anote.
The main acoustic parameters
measured were: duration of call, number ofnotes and pulses, pulse repetition rate

(number of pulses per second),
fundamental frequency, and dominantfrequency.

Results and Discussion

The vocalizations of Rana nigromaculata
consist of 4-10 notes, and each note has 3-7 distinct pulses. The higher frequency
parts (above 2 kHz) are usually absent in
the first few notes (1-3). Time intervals
between pulses tend to become longer at theend of the call. In all localities, the frog's
to 8 kHz.
frequency band ranges from

April 1990

TABLE 1

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 3, p. 61

Analysis of the calls of Rana nigromaculata. The dominant frequency and pulse repetition rateof R. nigromaculata from Hongya, Sichuan are about half of those recorded at the other localities. Note thedivergence of the Sichuan call structure from northern (Beijing) and central (Wuhan) China.
.

Number ofAsiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 3, p. 62

TYPE

TYPE

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*April 1990

KAY

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FIG. 1. Sonagrams of the calls of R ana nigromaculata in China, a. Seven note call from Beijing onMay 27, 1988. The water temperature was 24°C. b. One 6 note call and two 1 note calls from Wuchang,
Hubei Province, June 17, 1988. The water temperature was 22°C. c. Two 5 note calls from Hongya,Sichuan Province, March 19, 1988. The water temperature was 19°C.

Asiatic Herpetological Research

April 1990

structures,

butdifferentVol. 3, p. 63

Literature Cited

controllingmechanisms.

DUELLMAN, W. E. AND L. TRUEB.
Inacknowledging that our analysis offrog calls may not be exhaustive, we canonly tentatively suggest that the Sichuan
population of Rana nigromaculata is aseparate subspecies from the Wuhan andBeijing populations.

1986.

McGraw-Hill, New

Biology of Amphibians.
York. 670 pp.

KURAMOTO, M.

1977.

Mating call structures ofthe Japanese pond frogs, Rana nigromaculata

and RanaRanidae).
254.

brevipoda(Amphibia,Anura,

Journal of Herpetology 11(3):249-

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Theodore J.
Papenfuss (MuseumZoology, UniversityofofVertebrate
California,Berkeley) for donating the sonographpaper, and Mitsuru Kuramoto of theFukuoka University of Education, Japan.

ZWEIFEL, R. G.

1959.

Effect of temperature on

call of the frog, Bombina

1959(4):322-327.

variegata.

Copeia