Northern cricket frog

Description

The northern cricket frog is one of North America's two smallest vertebrates, ranging from 19–38 mm (0.75–1.50 in) long. Its dorsal coloration varies widely, and includes greys, greens, and browns, often in irregular blotching patterns. One New York biologist has identified six distinct color morphs and four pattern morphs, and several intrergrades between these. Typically there is dark banding on the legs and a white bar from the eye to the base of the foreleg. The skin has a bumpy texture. It is very similar to the southern cricket frog, Acris gryllus, found in the US Southeastern Coastal Plain, but with some overlap along the fall line. The southern cricket frog has longer legs, with less webbing on the hind feet, and a more pointed snout; northern cricket frogs have been observed with snouts indistinguishable from those of the southern species. The line on the back of its thigh is typically more sharply defined than that of the northern cricket frog. Biologists have recorded northern cricket frogs in the northern fringes of their range with extremely sharp posterior leg stripes.

Behavior and diet

Northern cricket frogs are diurnal and generally active much of the year, except in midwinter in northern areas when the water is frozen. Their primary diet is small (13 to 38 mm (0.5 to 1.5 in) long) insects, including mosquitos. They are, in turn, preyed upon by a number of species, including birds, fish, and other frogs. To escape predators, they are capable of leaping up to 3 feet in a single jump and are excellent swimmers.

Reproduction

Breeding generally occurs from May through July. The males call from emergent vegetation with a high-pitched, short, pebble-like call which is repeated at an increasing rate. The sound suggests pebbles being clicked together, much like a cricket, hence the name. One egg is laid at a time, generally attached to a piece of vegetation. The 14 millimetres (0.55 in) tadpoles hatch in only a few days, and undergo metamorphosis in early fall. Maturity is usually reached in less than a year.

Habitat

Cricket frogs prefer the edges of slow-moving, permanent bodies of water. Large groups of them can often be found together along the muddy banks of shallow streams, especially during premigratory clustering. The northern cricket frog has been observed to hibernate upland, often at considerable distances from water.

Subspecies

Geographic distribution

Conservation status

Frogs such as A. crepitans are important as an indicator of wetland health and general environmental quality in the areas they inhabit. Blanchard's cricket frogs, A. c. blanchardi, were once abundant in southern Michigan, but during the late 1970s and early 1980s, many populations in Michigan and the Great Lakes basin have disappeared. Thus, A. c. blanchardi is listed as a species of concern in the state of Michigan and listed as an endangered species in Minnesota. Acris crepitans is also listed as an endangered species in New York. The largest remaining population of northern cricket frogs in New York survives at Orange County's Glenmere Lake/Black Meadow habitat.