The use of COI barcodes for specimen identification and species discovery has proven to be a functional molecular approach in the study of Anura. In this study, we evaluated the genetic status of Bufo bufo, Hyla orientalis, and Rana macrocnemis from different parts of Rize, Türkiye, using the COI gene marker, a popular method known as DNA barcoding. The Caucasus region is known to host a substantial amount of global biodiversity; however, limited barcoding studies are available for vertebrate taxa within this region. We have submitted all generated sequences to the BOLD data system, with the majority representing the first data from Rize in this database. Our analysis revealed four distinct barcode index numbers belonging to members of three different families. We observed a genetic distance of 0.038 between B. bufo specimens from İyidere and Çamlıhemşin. Within R. macrocnemis, genetic distances ranged from 0.018 to 0.020, and within H. orientalis, they ranged from 0.01 to 0.02. Our findings indicate that COI sequencing is a useful tool for the identification of anuran species present in Rize.
