Natural History: Acris gryllus

During our first field trip of the semester, we visited Caw Caw Nature & Interpretive Center right off of Highway 17 in Ravenel, SC. As we walked through out the many trails at this county park, we noticed that their was an abundance of small frogs that contained a triangle marking located between the eyes. Through the use of A field guide to Reptiles & Amphibians : Eastern and Central America we were able to determine that this frog was the Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus).

Acris crepitans (Northern Cricket frog) was eliminated from the conversation as an option due to the fact that Acris gryllus tends to have a more of a pointed head and that their legs tend be proportionately longer than in the Northern Cricket frog. A. gryllus is commonly found in Coastal Plain bogs and ponds. Caw Caw Interpretive Center would fall into this category. This certain specimen would appear to be an adult due to the fact it fits into the size range of 15mm-33mm. A. gryllus generally tend to be insectivores, feeding on a variety of insects with a major part of their diet consisting of mosquitoes. The behavior of the population of A. gryllus tends becomes less active and enters a period of dormancy near the middle of December, and reanimates in mid-February, this could have been the reason that we saw such an abundance during our field trip as they could have began to come out of dormancy.