



Southern Cricket Frogs - Acris gryllus

- Diagnostic Features:
- Size: 0.5 to 1.5 inches (16 to 32 mm)
- Color:
- Gray-brown, with black, green, or yellow, very
variable
- Other:
- Small frog with long snout,
- Characteristic triangle on top of the head pointing
backward
- Long hind legs when brought forward, heal of leg usually
reach past snout
- Less webbed toes, 1st toe partially free of webbing, 3
joints of 4th (longest) toe free of webbing.
- More slender than Northern
Cricket Frog, the snout is more pointed, the legs longer
with less webbing between the toes, and the stripe on the
back of the thigh is well defined.
- Subspecies Differentiation:
- Southern Cricket Frog - Acris gryllus gryllus:
- Dark, clean cut stripe between two white stripes on
back of thigh
- Tiny Anal warts present

- Florida Cricket Frog - Acris gryllus dorsalis:
- Two dark stripes on rear of thigh.
- No anal warts
- Natural History:
- Habitat:
- Prefer shallow ponds 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 better jumper than
the Northern Cricket
Frog
- Breeding:
- February through October
- Calls day and night
- About 150 eggs are laid at a time, and more than one
complement may be produced each year
- Voice: Sonogram
- Call
( Ben Hill, Polk, & Echols Counties )
- Raspy Gick-gick-gick-gick...
- Repetitive call, similar to that made by clicking small
stones together with a glancing blow.
- Speed of call begins at about one per second, and does not
speed up, sounds much the same in chorus.
- Tadpoles:
- Similar to the Northern
Cricket Frog, like that species has a distinctive black tip
on tail
- Transformed size about 14mm

- LTRF 2/2; narrow midventral gap in marginal papillae
absent; eyes dorsal
- spiracular tube long, projects as tube free from body wall;
chest without dark band; summer breeder in usually permanent
lentic sites in Coastal Plain from southeastern Virginia to
Mississippi River
- Range: Southern Cricket Frog
- In North America, this species occurs from Virginia to
Georgia to Louisiana, primarily in the coastal plain. The
Florida subspecies continues the range into all of
Florida.
- In Georgia, they are more common in the area below the fall
line, but are found in some northern counties.


- 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