[1][2] These true frogs are usually largish species characterized by their slim waists and wrinkled skin; many have thin ridges running along their backs, but they generally lack "warts" as in typical toads.

Rana species feed mainly on insects and invertebrates, but swallow anything they can fit into their mouths,[citation needed] including small vertebrates.

A number of extinct species are in the genus, including Rana basaltica, from Miocene deposits in China.

[16] The paleosubspecies Rana temporaria fossilis was described in 1951 for articulated fossils from the late Eocene/early Oligocene of Bulgaria, but this taxonomic proposal was found to be invalid.

[15] Rana likely originated in Asia and migrated west to colonize Europe by the early Miocene, as was done earlier by Pelophylax.