Northern Cricket Frogs - Acris crepitans

• Diagnostic Features:
  • Size: 0.5 to 1.5 inches (16 to 35 mm)
  • Color:
    • Gray-brown, with black, green, or yellow
  • Other:
    • Small frog with blunt head
    • Ragged dark stripe on rear of thigh
    • Pair of prominent, subanal, white tubercles
    • Characteristic triangle on top of the head pointing backward
    • Short hind legs when brought forward, heal of leg will not reach snout
    • Extensively webbed toes, 1st toe completely webbed, only 1 1/2 to 2 joints of 4th (longest) toe free of webbing.
    • White line from eye to the base of the foreleg
    • Differes from the Southern Cricket Frog by having a more robust build, more webbing between the toes, a less sharply defined dark stripe on the back of the thigh and a pair of proment, subanal, white tubercles.
• Natural History:
  • Habitat:
    • Prefer margins of shallow ponds, ditches or marshy areas with vegetation and full sun.
  • Behavior:
    • These frogs are diurnal and active all year. They can be seen basking in the sunlight. When threatened, they will jump quickly away or into the water. A poorer jumper than the Southern Cricket Frog
  • Breeding:
    • April - July
    • Breed in warm weather in shallow water
    • Eggs are laid singly or in small groups attached to stems or scattered on the bottom
• Voice: Sonogram - Call ( White, Lamar, Butts, & Monroe Counties ) Spring Peepers, Fowler's Toads, Cope's Gray Treefrogs & Green/Bronze Frogs in background
  • Sharp tinkley click
  • Repetitive sharp clicking call, similar to that made by clicking small stones together
  • Speed of call begins at about one click per second, then increases and continues for 20-30 beats. A chorus slowly builds into a unified galloping sound.
• Tadpoles:
  • Normally a distinctive black tail tip
  • Transformed size: 14 mm
  • Transformation in late summer
  • 
  • LTRF 2/2; narrow midventral gap in marginal papillae absent; eyes dorsal
  • spiracular tube short, not projecting as tube free from body wall; often dark band across chest; summer breeder, most commonly along edges of permanent lentic or slow-flowing lotic sites from Atlantic Ocean to eastern Colorado and New Mexico and north to central Wisconsin
• Range:
  • In North America, this species has a broad range extending through most of the Southern and Midwestern United States. Range shown is that of the Eastern subspecies - Acris crepitans crepitans
  • In Georgia, they are found throughout most of the state, more common in the north.

  

  • 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

September 9, 2006 - wwknapp@mindspring.com