## Southern Chorus Frog - Pseudacris nigrita

- Diagnostic Features:
  - Size: 0.75 to 1.25 inches (19 to 32 mm)
  - Color:
    - Light gray, tan, or silvery, often very pale
  - Other:
    - Prominant white line along lip
    - The dark stripe from snout to groin and passing through the eye, may be broken up past the shoulder
    - The three dorsal stripes have a strong tendency to break up into rows of large spots, especially the middle one, which usually forks into two rows posteriorly
    - Snout tends to be more pointed than other chorus frogs
    - Belly usually white
  - Sexual Dimorphism:
- Natural History:
  - Habitat:
    - Pine flatwoods, wet meadows, roadside ditches, moist woodlands, etc.
  - Behavior:
    - Very difficult to locate, even when calling, like to hide under tufts of vegetation
  - Breeding:
    - November - April
    - Females deposit small irregular egg clusters on stems, leaves, or other objects in shallow water
- Voice: Sonogram : Call ( Taylor County )
  - A trill resembling the sound of a ratchet but with a musical quality
  - About 8 to 10 beats to each trill
  - Trills are repeated at regular intervals
  - Sporadic calling may also occur in non-breeding season after Heavy Rains
- Tadpoles:
  - Tadpole stage: 50 days
  - Transformed size: 9 - 15 mm
  - 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 short, P-2/P-3 > 1.8; lateral surface of tail muscle pigmented throughout (even if diffusely), mottled, or graded from dark dorsally to pale ventrally (i.e., not bicolored)
  - throat pigmented with chains of punctate melanophores that form a reticulate pattern; dorsum uniformly dark to medium brown with pale dorsolateral stripes; midventral marginal papillae biserial; P-2/P-3 3.2; length of one side of A-2/width of medial gap ca. 2.6; to 35 TL; lower jaw sheath narrow; spring breeder in temporary pools in open areas in Coastal Plain from southern Mississippi to North Carolina
- Range:
  - In North America, this frog is found from eastern North Carolina to northern Florida and southeast Mississippi
  - In Georgia, it is found 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. 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

June 28, 2003 - wwknapp@mindspring.com