Japanese brown frog
species of amphibian

The Japanese brown frog (Rana japonica) is a species of frog in the family Ranidae, endemic to Japan. Its natural habitats are temperate grassland, rivers, swamps, irrigated land, and seasonally flooded agricultural land.
Characteristics
Defining characteristics include a slender, reddish-brown body with a long, narrow head. The average snout-vent length is 48 mm (0.157 ft) for males. Females are usually much larger than males, with lengths of about 54 mm (0.177 ft). Neither gender has a vocal sac, but males develop yellowish-brown nuptial pads and sing during mating season (which lasts from January to March). Songs consist of 10 to 20 notes.
Habitat
R. japonica occurs in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu in Japan to the southern region of China. Within Japan, it inhabits mostly hillsides and plains and is rarely seen in mountain ranges. More specifically, the brown frog resides in temperate grasslands, hillsides, plains, rivers, swamps, irrigated land, and seasonally flooded agricultural land.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Japanese brown frog” is species of amphibian. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Japanese, brown and frog, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “species of amphibian” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2275253. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.
- Current terminology
- Classification context
- Finding cited technical literature
Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Japanese brown frog”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Japanese brown frog primary sources, Japanese brown frog archive and Japanese research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Japanese brown frog”?
- Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
- Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Japanese brown frog” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.