## Bronze/Green Frog - Rana clamitans

- Diagnostic Features:
  - Size: 2 to 3.5 inches (54 to 86 mm)
  - Color:
    - Plain brown or bronze
  - Other:
    - Smooth frog
    - Green coloration may be present on upper lip
    - Prominent tympanum
    - Dorsolateral folds do NOT extend to groin
    - White ventral surfaces with dark, irregular markings
    - Fully webbed feet, except fourth toe
  - Sexual Dimorphism:
    - Male throat has yellowish coloration
    - Male has a large tympanum
    - Male has stout forlegs and thumbs
- Subspecies Differentiation:
  - Green frog has markings in strong contrast with ground color
  - Bronze frog does not.
  - Coloration intergrades between, even at individual sites.
- Natural History:
  - Habitat:
    - This frog shelters in logs and crevices, lives in swamps and near streams.
  - Behavior:
    - Solitary and nocturnal, it remains under shelter most of the time.
  - Breeding:
    - Breeding occurs from March to August, primarily May to June.
    - About 3000 eggs are laid in a raftlike surface film
    - summer breeder in usually permanent, often swampy sites.
- Voice: Sonogram : Call ( McDuffie, Henry, Rabun, & Walton Counties )
  - Single, twanging note repeated 3-4 times in succession
  - "c'tung"
  - Paired, internal vocal sacs
  - Both throat and sacs inflate during call
  - A high pitched "squeenk" is often given as a startled frog jumps to safety
- Tadpoles:
  - Most tadpoles transform in a few months, but some overwinter
  - tadpole larger, to 90 TL; dorsum dark or pale brown to gray with a few dots with fuzzy borders and subtle vermiculations; no spots in dorsal fin, but distal third of tail commonly with black, somewhat haphazard, more or less rectangular markings, fins commonly densely speckled; venter densely white in large specimens, usually with silver patches of iridophores in younger specimens, body notably depressed and long dorsal fin with low arch.
- Range: Green & Bronze Frog
  - In North America, exotic range: Vancouver Island and adjacent British Columbia and Washington and near Salt Lake City, Utah; native range: most of eastern North America east of central Oklahoma. Bronze frog is the more southern subspecies.
  - In Georgia, it is found throughout the state.

  - 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 other Herp Atlas Volunteers
  - In Red: US Distribution from various sources

June 28, 2003 - wwknapp@mindspring.com