Lake frog – Pelophylax ridibundus
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- Terhivuo, J. 1993: Provisional atlas and status of populations for the herpetofauna of Finland in 1980-92. -- Annales Zoologici Fennici 30:55-69.
LINK - Terhivuo, Juhani 1981: Provisional atlas and population status of the Finnish amphibian and reptile species with reference to their ranges in northern Europe. -- Annales Zoologici Fennici 18: 139-164.
LINK - Terhivuo, Juhani & Koli, Lauri 1977: Suomen sammakkoeläinten ja matelijoiden levinneisyyden kartoitus. -- Luonnon Tutkija 81: 139-148.
The map represents observations of this taxon, but it may not be used as a distribution map.
- Total squares
The map represents observations of this taxon, but it may not be used as a distribution map.
Origin and general distribution
Naturally, lake frogs are found in eastern parts of Central and Southern Europe, and eastwards as far as in China.
In Finland, the first sighting of a lake frog dates back to 1937, when it was heard croaking in the bay of Vanhakaupunki in Helsinki. The next summer, lake frogs were also found in Saunalahti, and in the summer of 1939, about 125 individuals were shot from the bay. In the 1940s, they were also observed in Porvoo.
The wild lake frogs closest to Finland live in Estonia. Apparently they arrived in Helsinki by human. However, the lake frog disappeared from Finland by the 1960s. There has been new sightings of the species in the 2000s, but none of them has been verified to be correct.
Description text authors:
Translation: Luke 2023.
The chart shows temporal distribution of the observations, which is not the same as population increase/decrease.
The following biotope data have been recorded for observations of this taxa