Acris gryllus

The Southern cricket frog (Acris gryllus) is a small Hylid frog

Frog

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by long hind legs, a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...

 native to the Southeastern United States

Southeastern United States

The US Southeast is the eastern portion of the Southern United States, but the Census Bureau does not provide a standard definition of a "Southeast" region of the United States, and organizations that need to subdivide the US are free to define a "Southeast" region to fit their needs...

. It is very similar in appearance and habits to the Northern cricket frog, Acris crepitans

Acris crepitans

The Northern Cricket Frog is a species of small Hylid frog native to the United States and northeastern Mexico. Despite being members of the tree frog family, they are not arboreal...

, and was formerly conspecific (Dickerson 1906). The scientific name Acris is from the Greek word for locust

Locust

Locust is the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae. The origin and apparent extinction of certain species of locust—some of which reached 6 inches in length—are unclear....

, and the species name gryllus is Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...

 for cricket

Cricket (insect)

Crickets, family Gryllidae , are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets . They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets...

 (Georgia Wildlife).

Description

At 0.75-1.5 inches (16-32 mm) in length, Acris gryllus is even smaller than A. crepitans. Other characters that differentiate the southern species are:

• More pointed snout--A. crepitans more blunt.
• Hind leg is more than half length of the body when folded--that of A. crepitans is less than one half body length. When rear leg is extended forward, the heel of A. gryllus usually reaches beyond the snout--does not reach snout in A. crepitans.
• A. gryllus can jump longer distances than A. crepitans.
• A. gryllus has a sharply-defined black stripe on the back of the thigh--A. crepitans has a ragged stripe.
• Webbing on rear feet of A. gryllus is sparse, more extensive in A. crepitans.

Range and habitat

The Southern cricket frog is characteristic of Coastal Plain bogs, bottomland swamps, ponds, and ditches. It prefers sunny areas, and is usually not found in woodlands. Subspecies Acris gryllus gryllus is found in the Atlantic Coastal Plain

Atlantic Coastal Plain

The Atlantic Coastal Plain is the flat stretch of land that borders the Atlantic Ocean . It is approximately long, stretching from New York, through the southeast United States and through Mexico, ending with the Yucatán Peninsula. The coastal plains have an average elevation of less than 200...

 from southeastern Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...

 through the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, west to the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....

. It is found mostly east of the fall line

Fall line

In geomorphology, a fall line marks the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet. Technically, a fall line is an unconformity. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...

, but extends into more upland areas of the Piedmont

Piedmont (United States)

Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division. The...

 along river valleys. Subspecies Acris gryllus dorsalis is found throughout the Florida

Florida

Florida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...

 peninsula.

Habits

The Southern cricket frog feeds on insects, spiders, and other arthropod

Arthropod

An arthropod is an invertebrate that has an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed attachments called appendages. Arthropods are animals belonging to the Phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...

s. It is active throughout the year in warm weather.

Reproduction

Breeding is in late spring and summer. The advertisement call of the males is a loud rapid gick, gick, gick. Up to 150 eggs are laid at a time, and more than one mass may be produced in a season (Martof et al. 1980).

Subspecies

• Acris gryllus dorsalis (Harlan, 1827) -- Florida Cricket Frog
• Acris gryllus gryllus (LeConte, 1825) -- Coastal Plain Cricket Frog, Southern Cricket Frog