Acris gryllus

The southern cricket frog, Acris gryllus, is a small frog that is characterized by the shape of a Y on its back. Similar in appearance to the northern cricket frog, Acris crepitans, the southern cricket frog has less extensive webbing and has a straight line on its thighs rather than a jagged line like the northern cricket frog. Along with slight webbing between its toes, the southern cricket frog also has very long back legs to help it jump long distances. While these frogs vary in color, they generally range from being green to brown to red. The southern cricket frog is active both during the day and during the night, feeding on small insects around ponds or marshes. Breeding season for the southern cricket frog is anywhere between late spring and summer, and the female cricket frogs lay their eggs singly or in small clumps. The tadpole stage for cricket frogs lasts between six and thirteen weeks, and the tadpoles are characterized by having black tips on their tails.

On the last field trip of the semester, I found a southern cricket frog on the bank of a swamp. When I first approached the frog, it jumped about 2 feet away from me into the water, and I was surprised to see how far it could jump. After I was able to grab the frog out of the water, I noticed that the frog had very long hind legs and it also had a much different color pattern than the other southern cricket frogs we had seen previously; it was tan with brown spots rather than green. I knew that I had found a cricket frog because the frog's skin was bumpy, it had a pointy nose, and it had the distinct Y shape extending from its eyes down the center of its back. While I wasn't able to distinguish the sex of the frog, it was clearly a fully grown adult.

Over the course of the semester, I haven't had the best luck finding any herps, so I was really excited to finally catch something of my own on the last field trip...Acris gryllus!