Green Treefrog - Hyla cinerea

• Diagnostic Features:
  • Size: 1.25 to 2.5 inches (32 to 64 mm)
  • Color:
    • Typically bright green
    • Often paler, yellow-green at night
  • Other:
    • Slim, smooth body
    • White lips
    • Lateral stripes of white or yellow coloration
    • Lateral stripes usually extend to groin, but may be much shorter, or lacking
    • Many have small yellow dorsal spots
    • Large toe pads present
• Natural History:
  • Habitat:
    • This frog prefers wet or moist areas such as swamps, lake sides, and the edges of streams. It is occasionally found in brackish water.
  • Behavior:
    • It is nocturnal and prefers to climb, rather than jump.
    • It feeds on various insects.
    • Spends the day flattened against leaves or green stemmed vegetation
  • Breeding:
    • Breeding occurs from March to October.
    • Eggs are laid in a jelly envelope attached to floating plants.
    • Each female lays about 400 eggs
• Voice: Sonogram : Call ( Long, Ben Hill, & Jeff Davis Counties )
  • Ringing, bell-like call, repeated up to 75 times in one minute
  • Hundreds of calling males may be heard during breeding season
• Tadpoles:
  • Tadpole stage: 60 days
  • Transformed size: 12 - 17 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)
  • P-2/P-3 ca. 2.2; P-1 without medial gap; length of one side of A-2/width of medial gap ca. 3.5; lower jaw sheath narrow; midventral marginal papillae biserial; several submarginal papillae scattered laterally; entire body dark or greenish with yellowish or yellow-green tinge and with pale lines converging from eyes to nares in life, dorsum of at least larger tadpoles with freckled pattern; throat speckled diffusely; temporary and permanent lentic sites with emergent vegetation from Louisiana north to southeastern Missouri and southwest to central Texas
• Range:
  • In North America, this treefrog is found in the deep South, from Maryland to Texas.
  • In Georgia, it is found throughout the state, except for the NW section.

      

  • 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