Genus Species: Lithobates sphenocephalus utricularius

Size: 2 - 5″

Location: Found throughout Arkansas

Advertisement Call: Series of quiet, chuckling quacks and thumb rubbing on a balloon

 

 

 

Description:

This beautiful frog with green highlights and irregular black spots is a joy to find and hear.  Notice the two white dorsolateral ridges along its back and the white spot in the center of its tympanum (eardrum).  He is similar to the Pickerel Frog, but slightly larger and with fewer spots that are more random.  Like the bullfrog, this fellow’s legs might end up on a restaurant plate!

These frogs start breeding early in the season and occasionally have a second session in the fall.  The males have two vocal sacs located behind their tympanums.  The females lay a couple of thousand eggs in masses that are attached to underwater vegetation.  Tadpoles emerge in a couple of weeks and will be changed into adults by summer.

 Interesting Fact: Frogs and toads have a backbone, but no ribs!  If there were ribs, they would all be broken on the first landing.

The Southern Leopard Frog belongs to the Ranidae (True Frogs) family and is a New Frog (Neobatrachia).  When this frog is caught, it may let out a startling scream designed to scare away a predator.  Leopard Frogs are also known as Meadow Frogs or Cow Frogs!

Click for more about Southern Leopard Frogs at Herps of Arkansas.