Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus)

Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus)

Southern Cricket Frogs are very common tiny frogs of shallow water (puddles, ditches, pond margins).

Bladen Co., NC 10/19/2008.

Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus)

In North Carolina, they occur almost exclusively in the Coastal Plain and are replaced in the Piedmont region by the similar Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans). Southern is slightly smaller, with a more pointed snout, and longer legs with less webbed feet.

Look for the triangle on the top of the head to ID it as a cricket frog.

Johnston Co., NC 4/20/08.

Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus)

As large as crickets, they range from 0.5 to 1.5 inch long. The calls are slightly reminiscent of a cricket, more like two small rocks being clicked together. They're very loud at close range.

Johnston Co., NC 4/20/08.

Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus)

Johnston Co., NC 4/20/08.

Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus)

Dare Co., NC, 3/23/2002.

Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus)

Southern Cricket Frog are quite variable in coloration.

Dare Co., NC, 3/23/2002.

Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus)

Alvin Braswell, Curator for Herpetology at the N.C. State Museum of Natural Sciences, thinks this tiny frog may be a recent metamorph of Acris gryllus, Southern Cricket Frog. Compare with Little Grass Frog (Pseudacris ocularis).

Croatan National Forest, Craven Co., NC 8/24/03.

All photographs and text ©2013 by Will Cook unless otherwise noted.