Stats

Lifespan: 3-5 yrs
Size: Tiny
Diet: Insectivore
Activity: Nocturnal
Social: Colony
Biome: Freshwater wetland
Range: North America
Movement: Hopping
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Camouflage
Status: Uncommon

About

A tiny, big-voiced hylid of northern grasslands and prairie potholes, marked with three dark stripes running down its back and a dark stripe through the eye. Males produce a call likened to running a fingernail along the teeth of a comb, forming huge spring choruses that can be heard well before the frogs themselves are ever seen.

Life cycle

1.
egg
A jelly-coated egg is laid in water and develops over days into an aquatic larva.
2.
tadpole
A gilled tadpole swims and grazes on algae, slowly absorbing its tail and growing limbs.
3.
juvenile
A near-adult amphibian leaves the water with new legs and lungs, smaller than the mature form.
4.
adult
Fully grown at adult size, breathing air.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Hylidae
Genus: Pseudacris
Species: Pseudacris maculata