## Mountain Chorus Frog - Pseudacris brachyphona

- Diagnostic Features:
  - Size: 1 to 1.5 inches (25 to 38 mm)
  - Color:
    - Varies from olive, to gray, or brown
  - Other:
    - Dorsal stripes curved and bending toward center, may touch to form crude X or break into spots
    - Triangle between eyes
    - White line on upper lip
    - Yellow pigment on concealed and lower surfaces of legs
  - Sexual Dimorphism:
    - Males have dark throats
- Natural History:
  - Habitat:
    - A woodland species ranging upward to elevations of at least 3500 ft.
    - Occurring chiefly on forested slopes and hilltops
    - Often at long distances from water
  - Behavior:
    - Like a small version of the Wood Frog in habits, leaping power, and gross appearance
  - Breeding:
    - Breeds in small, shallow bodies of water in woods or at its edge
    - In ditches, pools along streams or those that form below hillside springs
    - Breeds February - April
    - Eggs are laid in groups of 10 to 50 attached to vegetation, total 400
- Voice: Sonogram : Call ( Dawson County )
  - A rasp like that of Western Chorus Frog, but given more rapidly, higher in pitch, and more nasel in quality
  - Sounds like a wagon wheel turning without benefit of lubrication
  - Harsh, raspy "wreenk" or "reek"
- Tadpoles:
  - Tadpole stage: 50 - 56 days
  - Transformed size: 8 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 not pigmented; dorsum uniformly medium brown; midventral marginal papillae uniserial; P-2/P-3 > 2.5; length of one side of A-2/width of medial gap ca. 3.0; lower jaw sheath narrow; spring breeder in temporary pools, often in or near woodlands in southwestern Pennsylvania to northeastern Mississippi and central Alabama
- Range:
  - In North America, disjunct range of three groups. The main portion of the range from southwest Pennsylvania and southeast Ohio to northern Tennessee; a second population in north central Alabama and adjacent parts of Tennessee and Mississippi; a small area in north Georgia and adjacent southeast Tennessee and southwest North Carolina
  - In Georgia, it is found in a few northern, mountainous 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

June 28, 2003 - wwknapp@mindspring.com