Acris crepitans
Encyclopedia
The Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans) 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. There are three recognized subspecies
.
The Northern Cricket Frog is one of North America's two smallest vertebrates, ranging from 0.75 to 1.5 inches (19–38 mm) long. Its dorsal coloration varies widely, and includes greys, greens and browns, often in irregular blotching patterns. One NY biologist has identified 6 distinct colour morphs and 4 pattern morphs, and several intrergrades between these.(Westerveld,1977). Typically there is dark banding on the legs and a white bar from the eye to the base of the foreleg. The skin has a bumpy texture. It is very similar to the Southern Cricket Frog, Acris gryllus
, found in the US Southeastern Coastal Plain, though there is some overlap along the fall line
. The Southern Cricket Frog has longer legs, with less webbing on the hind feet, and a more pointed snout; Northern Cricket Frogs have been observed with snouts indistinguishable from those of the Southern species (Westerveld, 1998). The line on the back of its thigh is typically more sharply defined than that of the Northern Cricket Frog (Conant et al. 1998, Martof et al. 1980). Biologists have recorded Northern Cricket Frogs in the northern fringes of their range with extremely sharp posterior leg stripes.
and generally active much of the year, except in mid-winter in northern areas when the water is frozen. Their primary diet
is small 0.5 inches to 1.5 inches long.insect
s, including mosquito
s. They in turn are predated upon by a number of species, including bird
s, fish
, and other frogs. To escape predators, they are capable of leaping up to 6 feet (almost 2 metres) in a single jump and are excellent swimmers.
is laid at a time and generally attached to a piece of vegetation. The 0.5 inch (14 mm) tadpole
s hatch in only a few days and undergo metamorphosis in early fall. Maturity is usually reached in less than a year.
health and general environmental quality in the areas they inhabit. Blanchard's cricket frogs A. c. blanchardi were once abundant in southern Michigan, but during the late 1970s and early 1980s, many populations in Michigan and the Great Lakes basin have disappeared. Thus, A. c. blanchardi is listed as a species of concern
in the state of Michigan
. Acris crepitans is also listed as an endangered species
in New York. The largest remaining population of Northern Cricket Frogs in New York State survives at Orange County's Glenmere lake
/Black Meadow habitat. Many biologists think these frogs might be impacted by diseases but the bi-monthly treatment of Glenmere's water (unique to this singular Cricket Frog habitat) with the fungicide copper sulfate may be helping this population avoid infection deaths. Cricket frogs are also an endangered species in Minnesota, and Ontario, Canada.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of small Hylid frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
native to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and northeastern Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Despite being members of the tree frog family, they are not arboreal. There are three recognized subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
.
Description
Acris gryllus
The Southern cricket frog is a small Hylid frog native to the Southeastern United States. It is very similar in appearance and habits to the Northern cricket frog, Acris crepitans, and was formerly conspecific...
, found in the US Southeastern Coastal Plain, though there is some overlap along the fall line
Fall line
A fall line is a geomorphologic unconformity between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...
. The Southern Cricket Frog has longer legs, with less webbing on the hind feet, and a more pointed snout; Northern Cricket Frogs have been observed with snouts indistinguishable from those of the Southern species (Westerveld, 1998). The line on the back of its thigh is typically more sharply defined than that of the Northern Cricket Frog (Conant et al. 1998, Martof et al. 1980). Biologists have recorded Northern Cricket Frogs in the northern fringes of their range with extremely sharp posterior leg stripes.
Behavior & diet
Northern cricket frogs are diurnalDiurnal animal
Diurnality is a plant or animal behavior characterized by activity during the day and sleeping at night.-In animals:Animals that are not diurnal might be nocturnal or crepuscular . Many animal species are diurnal, including many mammals, insects, reptiles and birds...
and generally active much of the year, except in mid-winter in northern areas when the water is frozen. Their primary diet
Diet (nutrition)
In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...
is small 0.5 inches to 1.5 inches long.insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, including mosquito
Mosquito
Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
s. They in turn are predated upon by a number of species, including bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s, fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, and other frogs. To escape predators, they are capable of leaping up to 6 feet (almost 2 metres) in a single jump and are excellent swimmers.
Reproduction
Breeding generally occurs from May through July. The males call from emergent vegetation with a high pitched, short, pebble-like call which is repeated at an increasing rate. the sound suggests pebbles being clicked together, much like a cricket, hence the name. One eggEgg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
is laid at a time and generally attached to a piece of vegetation. The 0.5 inch (14 mm) tadpole
Tadpole
A tadpole or polliwog is the wholly aquatic larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian, particularly that of a frog or toad.- Appellation :...
s hatch in only a few days and undergo metamorphosis in early fall. Maturity is usually reached in less than a year.
Habitat
Cricket frogs prefer the edges of slow moving, permanent bodies of water. Large groups of them can often be found together along the muddy banks of shallow streams, esp. during premigratory clustering. The Northern cricket frog has been observed to hibernate upland, often at considerable distance from water.Subspecies
- Blanchard's Cricket Frog, Acris crepitans blanchardi (HarperFrancis HarperFrancis Harper may refer to:* Francis Jacob Harper , U.S. Congressional Representative from Pennsylvania* Francis Harper , American naturalist* Frank Harper , British actor-See also:...
, 1947) - Eastern Cricket Frog, Acris crepitans crepitans (BairdSpencer Fullerton BairdSpencer Fullerton Baird was an American ornithologist, ichthyologist and herpetologist. Starting in 1850 he was assistant-secretary and later secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C...
, 1854) - Coastal Cricket Frog, Acris crepitans paludicola (Burger, Smith and Smith, 1949)
Geographic distribution
- A. c. crepitans - from New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, south to FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and west along the gulf coast states to TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. - A. c. paludicola - southwestern Louisiana to eastern Texas.
- A. c. blanchardii - Michigan and Ohio, south through to most of Texas and Mexico. Has been recorded in Minnesota and Colorado.
Conservation status
Frogs like Acris crepitans are important as an indicator of wetlandWetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
health and general environmental quality in the areas they inhabit. Blanchard's cricket frogs A. c. blanchardi were once abundant in southern Michigan, but during the late 1970s and early 1980s, many populations in Michigan and the Great Lakes basin have disappeared. Thus, A. c. blanchardi is listed as a species of concern
Threatened species
Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...
in the state of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. Acris crepitans is also listed as an endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
in New York. The largest remaining population of Northern Cricket Frogs in New York State survives at Orange County's Glenmere lake
Glenmere Lake
Glenmere Lake is a colonial mill pond or reservoir located in Orange County, New York, USA. It is New York State's largest and virtually last habitat of the Northern Cricket Frog , listed as endangered by the...
/Black Meadow habitat. Many biologists think these frogs might be impacted by diseases but the bi-monthly treatment of Glenmere's water (unique to this singular Cricket Frog habitat) with the fungicide copper sulfate may be helping this population avoid infection deaths. Cricket frogs are also an endangered species in Minnesota, and Ontario, Canada.
External links
- Animal Diversity Web: Acris crepitans
- USGS: Northern Cricket Frog
- Frogs & Toads of Georgia: Acris crepitans crepitans
- Conant et al. (1998). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-90452-8.
- Martof et al. (1980). Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4252-4.
- NYS DEC Northern Cricket Frog Fact Sheet
- New York State's last population of acris crepitans' and the positive effect of continued fungicide treatment of the lake Chytrid theory