Natural History: Lithobates grylio

 This past field trip, our class went to Caw Caw county park. Here we found many different herps, one of them being Lithobates grylio, the pig frog. I encountered this frog while looking through the traps set in the middle of a pool of swamp water. These frogs typically inhabit areas with permanent bodies of water, so it makes sense that we found this guy here. Although they do live near permanent bodies of water, pig frogs also travel on land at night and when the weather is wetter for their moist skin. Although hard to see in the picture, pig frogs have extensively webbed feet where the webbing extends all the way to the tips of every toe. This helps them to move around in their aquatic environments.
Male pig frogs typically have an external eardrum that is larger than their eyes. The pig frog found at Caw Caw does not seem to have this feature, so it is most likely female. The breeding seasons of these frogs are typically at the end of spring and into summer. Like most anurans, pig frogs have external fertilization and a complex life cycle with a tadpole stage. Pig frog's tadpole stage can even last up to a year long before fully metamorphosing into a mature frog.
This was an exciting find because we could compare this species of Lithobates to the other we found at Caw Caw, Lithobates clamitans, as well as the more commonly known species of Lithobates, the bull frog. It was also amazing to see where the pig frogs like to hang out, and how the environment at Caw Caw was the perfect fit for this species.

References:
Powell, R., Conant, R., & Collins, J.T. Perterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, 4th edition, pg. 154-155. 2016: Houghton Millfin Harcourt Publishing Company. 
https://srelherp.uga.edu/anurans/rangry.htm