## 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

June 28, 2003 - wwknapp@mindspring.com