Twice the charm. Acris gryllus

On our first field trip for herpetology lab, everyone was filled with excitement, what would we find? The weather was sunny and prime for tracking amphibians who came out to bask in the warm sun.
On arrival at the Caw Caw County park in Charleston,SC, we were given a quick run down of the park and its goals, we were then allowed to explore it. Prior to the day, our professor, Dr. Welch and assistant Hannah had laid traps, to increase our capture efficiency. Everyone quickly ventured to a trap in hopes of making a discovery, the first of which was a greater siren(Siren lacertina). The next find was by Challiss Vick, a southern cricket frog, the discovery lifted the group and increased the thirst to achieve one.

Soon, in my peripherals i spotted a series of long jumps and knew this was my chance. After several bouts between my net and the frog, he was safely in my hands. To my surprise i immediately knew what species it was due to Challiss's previous find, i knew it was the other color possibility of the southern cricket frog.
The southern cricket frog(Acris gryllus), is  a tree frog that is identified by its dark triangle on top of its head accompanied with a dark stripe on its thigh between two well defined light stripes. The best identification key I utilized was its webbing. The amount of webbing on Acris gryllus' toes are less that that of the northern cricket frog (Acris crepitans).The southern cricket frog's first toe is partly free of webbing and the fourth(longest) toe has the last three joints (phalanges) free.Their habitat involves shallow and slow-moving waters like ponds, streams and lakes which makes use of their complex life cycle.
Southern cricket frog are very interesting amphibians because of the call, which sounds like rattle or metal clicker-gick,gick,gick,gick etc, this call can be used to attract mates and alert males of their presence. Also they are the best jumpers in amphibians.

The findings of two different colorations of Acris gryllus was one of the many great findings of this day and made everyone look forward to the next trip.

Peterson Field Guides: Reptiles and Amphibians Easter/Central North America; pp 528-530

http://srelherp.uga.edu/anurans/acrgry.htm

Vincent Essien