Carpenter Frog - Rana virgatipes

• Diagnostic Features:
  • Size: 1.5 to 2.5 inches (41 to 67 mm)
  • Color:
    • Brownish
  • Other:
    • Four light dorsal stripes
    • No dorsolateral ridges
    • Belly usually mottled with black
    • Two joints of the longest tow are free of webbing
• Natural History:
  • Habitat:
    •  Spagnum bogs, stands of emergent grasslike vegetation, pine savanna bogs or ponds
  • Behavior:
    •  
  • Breeding:
    •  April - August
    • The egg mass is a flattened or globular cluster containing 200 to 600 eggs
• Voice: Sonogram : Call ( Aiken County, SC ) Green Treefrogs, Southern Cricket Frogs in background.
  • Pu-tunk', pu-tunk', pu-tunk'. Like a carpenter hammering nails into shingles
  • Vocal pouches paired, spherical when inflated
• Tadpoles:
  • Tadpole stage: About a year
  • Transformed size: 23 - 31 mm
  • 
  • LTRF usually 2/3; to 25 TL; prominent (formed of many, closely-arranged, bright-colored cells) to faint (formed of fewer, widely-spaced cells) transverse golden, brassy, or russet band at mid-body (may or may not be visible in preserved specimen but sparse distributions of melanophores in this area often allow detection of where band was); fins usually not pigmented but may be slightly opaque; throughout continent but several species limited to Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains
  •  LTRF usually 2/3; ca. 25-110 TL; body brown to russet with small, subtle, darker markings; middle of dorsal fin with longitudinal dark line or row of dots; Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains from southeastern Texas to New Jersey
  • low contrast bronze to brassy band at mid-body on bronzy to russet ground color; fins finely speckled; tail muscle unicolored or grades to slightly more pale ventrally; summer breeder in lentic, often swampy, sites in Atlantic Coastal Plain from northeastern Florida to New Jersey
  • P-2/P-3 ca. 1.3; ground color brownish to slightly maroon with minor dark, fine markings, sometimes dotted; longitudinal series of dark dots in dorsal fin, sometimes fuse into continuous stripe, and fainter stripe may parallel this array on tail muscle; summer breeder in lentic, often swampy, sites in Atlantic Coastal Plain from northeastern Florida to New Jersey
• Range:
  • Coastal plain, southern New Jersey to Okefenokee Swamp region of Georgia and adjacent Florida
  • In Georgia, it is found in the southeastern, coastal part of the state.

    

  • In Light Blue: Williamson, Gerald K. & Moulis, Robert A., Distribution of Amphibians and Reptiles in Georgia, Special Publication No. 3, Savannah Science Museum, Inc. Savannah, Georgia, 1994. Museum specimens
  • In Pale Blue: Williamson, Gerald K. & Moulis, Robert A., Distribution of Amphibians and Reptiles in Georgia, Special Publication No. 3, Savannah Science Museum, Inc. Savannah, Georgia, 1994. Literature only, no museum specimens.
  • In Green: Sound Recordings
  • In Yellow: From Both '94 study and Sound Recordings
  • In Magenta: Photograph, not found by '94, may or may not be sound record
  • In Medium Blue: Photograph and in '94 study, may or may not be sound record 
  • In Orange: County Record by other Herp Atlas Volunteers
  • In Red: US Distribution from various sources

May 25, 2008 - wwknapp@mindspring.com