Genus Species: Pseudacris illinoensis

Size: 1 - 1½”

Location: Located in the extreme northeast corner of Arkansas

Advertisement Call: Single bell-like note repeated rapidly.  A chorus sounds like a squeaky wheel.

 

 

Description:

This frog is very similar to Strecker’s Chorus Frog, and until recently was considered a sub-species of Strecker’s.  It is large and stout and has several dark blotches on light colored skin and a solid or broken patch from his snout through his eye past his tympanum.  It also has a variable dark spot directly below its eye and it has a single vocal sac.  Its skin is rough.

The Illinois Chorus Frog breeds in early spring and the females will lay a few hundred eggs in smaller packets attached to submerged sticks and twigs.  Tadpoles will hatch in five days and gradually lose their tails and gills, grow legs and lungs, and become frogs in two months.  When these frogs are not breeding they are burrowed into the ground.

Interesting Fact: Frogs shed their skins occasionally and eat it to conserve energy.  How’s that for recycling?

These frogs are members of the Hylidae (Treefrog) family and are New Frogs (Neobatrachia).

Click for more about Strecker’s Chorus Frog at Herps of Arkansas.