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Northern cricket frog, Acris crepitans, from Hennepin County, MN
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Status
This species is listed as Endangered in Minnesota.
Description
This is one of Minnesota's smallest frog species. Adults are from 5/8 to 1 1/2 inches snout to vent length. The ground color is usually brown or gray. There may be green blotches or a mid dorsal stripe that is green, red, orange, or yellow. They are warty for a moist-skinned frog, and have long, powerful legs. They have pads on the ends of their toes, but these are not descernable and they cannot cling to surfaces like treefrogs.
Subspecies
No subspecies of the northern cricket frog are recognized. Some recognize Minnesota's populations as the Blanchard's Cricket Frog (Acris blanchardi). Range
The cricket frog is known only from old records in southwest and southeastern Minnesota. Recent searches have failed to find any cricket frogs, even from previously known localities. In 1998, a population was discovered in Hennepin County in a wetland not more than 100 yards from the Minnesota River. This is a suspicious location and most are skeptical of this population's viability.
Habitat
This frog is found wherever there is water and is the most abundant species in much of their national range. In Minnesota they are known from ponds, streams, and slow moving rivers.
Habits
Cricket frogs are olympic jumpers using their strong hind legs to propel themselves distances of three feet in a single jump. They hang around the water's edge and stay still to blend in with the muddy bank or hop into the water to escape danger. They do not like deep water, however, and instead of diving and remaining submerged like other frogs, they swim quickly in a semi circle to another location on the shore. Cricket frogs breed late; June and July and sometimes later. The males make a "glicking" call that sounds like two pebbles being struck together (in fact, we have gotten them to respond to such sounds!). They start out slow and then increase in rapidity until the individual "glicks" cannot be singled out. Females lay several clutches of eggs numbering up to 200 eggs per clutch. These are attached to vegetation underwater. The tadpoles are about an inch when they hatch and they morph into froglets in about 7 weeks. The young frogs stay active later in the year than adults.
Food
These frogs eat any tiny insect they can catch. They eat incredibly large amounts of food-enough to fill their stomachs three times a day.
Frogs and Toads