The northern cricket frog is one of New York State's smallest vertebrates. This frog is an aquatic species, and although it belongs to the tree-frog family, Hylidae, which includes such well-known climbers as the spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) and gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor), it does not climb very much. Cricket frogs exhibit a myriad of patterns and combinations of black, yellow, orange or red on a base of brown or green. Distinguishing characteristics are small size, dorsal warts, a blunt snout, a dark triangular-shaped spot between the eyes, and a ragged, longitudinal stripe on the thigh. The webbing on the hind foot is extensive, reaching the tip of the first toe and the next to last joint of the longest toe.
Ten Facts about Northern Cricket Frog
- Adults average only 1 inch (2.5 cm) in length; the male is usually smaller than the females.
- Northern cricket frogs are diurnal and generally active much of the year, except in mid-winter in northern areas when the water is frozen.
- Their primary diet is small insects, including mosquitos.
- To escape predators, they are capable of leaping up to 6 feet (almost 2 metres) in a single jump.
- Breeding generally occurs from May through July.
- The males will attract females with a call that sounds like a series of metallic clicks, not dissimilar to a cricket, hence its name.
- Their predators include birds, fish and other frogs.
- Cricket frogs prefer the edges of slow moving, permanent bodies of water.
- Maturity is usually reached in less than a year.
- The cricket frog ranges throughout the central plains states from western Texas north to South Dakota and from the Florida panhandle north to southeastern New York, except for the coastal plain from Virginia to Florida and the northern Appalachians.