Eastern Cricket Frog

Cricket frogs are found only in two-thirds of Western Ohio, often on the banks of isolated vegetated permanent streams or ponds.

True frogs are those that are members of the Ranidae family, which includes the bullfrog, green frog, northern and southern leopard frogs, pickerel frog, and wood frog; other frogs are members of the Hylidae family, which includes tree frogs, chorus frogs, and cricket frogs.

Acaris crepitans is the scientific name for the Eastern Cricket Frog.

The genus name, Acris, is derived from the Greek words acr, which means “sharp,” and is, which means “fair.” species name crepitan stems from the Latin word crepit which means “rattle and” ans ”meaning ”handle ”hence ”hand rattle” like the call of the frog. It belongs to the family Hylidae.

This frog is found in Mary land and Virginia; specifically West Virginia it has color variations including grays, greens, brown often in random blotching patterns. It can mostly be found near bodies of fresh water but rarely found in large lakes polluted sites or large rivers; however, they occupy damp zones along water edges.

Eastern Cricket Frog distribution is on the South Eastern side of the Mississippi River and Ohio River to the south in the U.S.

Location

The Eastern Cricket Frog is found in West Virginia and Maryland and is distributed in the Mississippi’s river edge of the Atlantic Costal Plains and up north of the Atlantic seaboard to Southeastern New York.

Some isolated species have been discovered on the Atlantic Coastal Plains in North and South Carolina.

It is found in ponds that have scattered vegetation that is permanent and mostly occupy the shores of these ponds and streams.

Description

The Eastern Cricket Frog is a tiny frog that resembles a toad and is closely related to the chorus frog. It has a wart-studded skin and a dark triangle between its eyes (”Amphibiaweb - Acris Crepitans“). The eastern cricket frog is unique compared to other tree frogs because it does not climb trees instead it has a semiaquatic way of life inhabiting in the open sunny edges of ponds, marshes, bogs, and even lakes and on sand and gravel bars of slow or stagnant rivers and streams. This frog can color change based on the surrounding hence bringing about variation in color and pattern; for example, in bright light, during high temperatures, and during dry atmosphere, it could appear lighter in color.

Compared to other tree frog family members whose toe disks are round and broad, the cricket frog has less wide toe discs than the width of its toe tips.

The adults of this frog measure 1.5 inches long and are tan or gray with green, brown or yellow patches in color (”Amphibiaweb - Acris Crepitans“).

Habitat and behavior

During early spring this frog is active however its courtship begins during late spring or even early summer (”Northern Cricket Frog Fact Sheet - NYS Dept. Of Environmental Conservation“).

When looking for mates, it produces sharp clicking notes resembling the sound of two marbles tapping against each other in a rapid succession manner.

The Eastern Cricket Frog can be found by listening to its call ”, gick, gick, gick” which usually begins slowly as it rises and speeds up to about” 20-30 gicks” and they also hop rapidly hence easy to detect.

The Eastern cricket frog often tends to rests on emergent water plants, mats of floating vegetation such as the spatterdock.

Diet

The frog feeds both during and night on both the ground insects and those that fly in the air. Food includes Annelids, Mollusks, crustaceans and also plant matter, small insects such as crickets, beetles, the occasional fly and also mosquitoes. Food consumption is usually greater in adult frogs, female frogs, that reproducing, large bodied small frogs (”Eastern Cricket Frog“).

Predators and Defense

The Eastern cricket frog is a powerful leaper, and hence when attacked by a predator, the frog makes zigzag leaps measuring a meter or more in length, on either the bank of the stream or on vegetation floating on the pond or s stream. They dive in and quickly swim to the shoreline far away from their predators (Rice).

The frog is usually highly at risk of predation when water in the ponds or stream reduces immensely, and banks are exposed.

Some of the predators that prey on the cricket frog are the American bullfrog, common and plain garter snakes, northern Concho water snakes, Turtles, Kestrels, great-tailed grackles, fish, herons, and minks. Male frogs can also be predators to their fellow male frogs in instances where other males enter their territory to look for mates especially when mating opportunities are scarce (Rice).

Other defense mechanisms are color dimorphism and, their ability to leap rapidly.

Reproduction

A.crepitans attains maturity at the age of one year for them to be able to reproduce.

They lay eggs less in number compared to the other frogs. On laying their eggs, each egg is attached to a plant in the stream or pond (Lannoo).

The frog can lay at most up to 400 eggs which hatch after few days.

The cricket frog during laying of its eggs, it deposits them in clusters of 2-7 eggs each clump.

Tadpoles hatched are usually unique with black –tipped tails, and their life cycle occurs between the months of July and August.

Lifespan

The Eastern Cricket Frog‘s lifespan averages to four months usually and a complete population turnover in 16-months (Lannoo).

How to find the Eastern Cricket Frog

The Eastern Cricket Frog can be found by visiting ponds where they breed during the night the calling males have vocal sacs that reflect a flashlight beam hence easy to spot.

Status and conservation concerns

The Eastern Cricket Frog is listed as an endangered species in Minnesota and Wisconsin, threatened in New York, as an individual of particular interest in Indiana, Michigan, and West Virginia. In Canada, it is listed as an endangered species. Globally the conservation status of the frog is of least concern.

Works cited

”Amphibiaweb - Acris Crepitans“. Amphibiaweb.org. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.

”Eastern Cricket Frog“. Wildlife.Ohiodnr.Gov, http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/species-and-habitats/species-guide-index/amphibians/eastern-cricket-frog.

Fergus, Charles. Wildlife of Virginia and Maryland and Washington, D.c. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2011. Print.

Lannoo, Michael J. Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species. Berkeley, Calif. [u.a.: Univ. of California Press, 2013. Print.

”Northern Cricket Frog Fact Sheet - NYS Dept. Of Environmental Conservation“. Dec.ny.gov. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.