Squirrel Treefrog - Hyla squirella

• Diagnostic Features:
  • Size: 1 to 1.5 inches (22 to 41 mm)
  • Color:
    • Usually a muddy, yellow green
    • Highly variable, even on a single individual
    • Chameleon-like property allows this frog to change colors and patterns
  • Other:
    • Small frog
    • Sometimes a dark bar between eyes
    • May be light, broken lateral stripes
    • Lower parts of body and legs give a spotted appearance and parts may look dyed yellow
    • Smooth skin
    • Large toe pads present
• Natural History:
  • Habitat:
    • This frog can be spotted in moist areas, in gardens, and on trees, shrubs, and vines.
  • Behavior:
    • It is nocturnal and aggressively forages for insects in trees and shrubs.
    • In rainy weather, it can be seen in daylight.
    • In dry weather, it seeks shelter during the day.
  • Breeding:
    • Breeding takes place from March to October.
    • Normally breeds with summer storms.
    • Single eggs are laid in shallow pools, about 1,000 total.
• Voice: Sonogram : Call ( Burke, Lowndes, Cook, & Wilcox Counties )
  • Two calls:
    • Before or during rain, raspy chatter, quite squirrel like
    • Breeding call is ducklike, but slightly more nasal; repeated 15 to 20 times in 10 seconds at the height of the breeding season.
• Tadpoles:
  • Tadpole stage: 45 days
  • Transformed size: 12 mm
  • 
  • LTRF 2/3; narrow midventral gap in marginal papillae absent; eyes lateral; P-3 medium to short, P-2/P-3 > 1.2; east of Mississippi River
  • LTRF 2/3; narrow midventral gap in marginal papillae absent; eyes lateral; east of Mississippi River; regardless of size, stage or range, notable colors or patterns in Section 10 absent; P-3 medium, P-2/P-3 1.3-1.6; lateral surface of tail muscle pigmented throughout (even if diffusely), mottled, or graded from dark dorsally to pale ventrally (i.e., not bicolored)
  • lower jaw medium, entirely black; P-2/P-3 ca. 1.4; length of one side of A-2/width of medial gap ca. 4.6; midventral marginal papillae uniserial; uniformly brown or tan in life, sometimes entire body with bright golden hue, fins clear or with minor black speckling in older tadpoles; throat speckled; usually temporary lentic sites in Coastal Plain from Mississippi River to southeastern Virginia (extremely variable and difficult to identify consistently)
• Range:
  • In North America, this treefrog is found in the deep South from Maryland to Texas.
  • In Georgia, it is found primarily below the fall line.

    

  • 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
  • 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 others
  • In Red: US Distribution from various sources

May 25, 2008 - wwknapp@mindspring.com