Northern Cricket Frog
Acris crepitans
Summary: Once an abundant species throughout the region, cricket frogs disappeared from much of the upper midwest sometime in the 1970s. The original habitat consisted of sunlit banks of permanent streams, rivers, and ponds in prairie and savanna regions. A few populations persist in Cook, Will and Kane Counties Illinois and Lake County Indiana.
Description: A small frog, about 1.0 to 1.5 inches (25 to 37 mm), with long legs and a pointed snout. Small warts are scattered over the otherwise smooth-skinned body. Color is variable, with brown, tan, gray, and green individuals present in most populations. A lighter mid-dorsal stripe may or may not be present. A small, backwards-pointing triangle is almost always present between the eyes on the top of the head. The underside is white.
The small dark tadpole usually, but not always, has a distinctive black tip on the tail.
Distribution and Status: The cricket frog was once considered to be possibly the most common amphibian in Illinois (Smith, 1961). Through the early 1970s I saw them frequently. By the end of that decade, they were almost gone from the region, and from much of the northern part of the range. The reasons for the decline are not known. Today, populations persist at a few localities, mostly in the southern part of the region. Cricket frogs are relatively common at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in southwestern Will County. They persisted a little to the north near Lockport until the drought years of 1988 and 1989. Volunteers recently discovered a population in southern Kane County, and there are a number of known active localities in Kendall County (Mike Redmer, pers. comm.). In Indiana, cricket frogs are still occasionally seen in the dunes region west of Gary. They become relatively common a little to the south of the Chicago region.
Habitat: Cricket frogs are associated with the margins of permanent water, including streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes. Most individuals are seen on narrow mudflats at waters edge, or on floating vegetation in shallow water. A few individuals may wander inland after rain, but the majority of the population is within one meter of water at any given time.
Relatively open and sunlit situations are preferred, and this species was once almost continuously present along watercourses in former prairie and savanna regions. In forested areas sunlit openings are used, including point bars or banks of larger rivers, or in the vicinity of road crossings.
Cricket frogs are tolerant of disturbance. They frequently inhabit man-made or man-modified situations such as gravel pits or farm ponds, as well as more pristine habitats.
Voice: Like a pair of marbles being clicked together, slowly at first and then becoming more rapid; gick, gick, gick, gick...
Phenology: Cricket frogs are active in April, but breeding does not begin until later in the spring, usually in May. Peak breeding activity in the Chicago region is usually at the very end of May, with decreasing activity possible into early July. Calling may occur both day and night. Eggs are deposited as floating surface masses. Juveniles are conspicuous at waters edge in late summer and fall.
Field Notes
June 9, 1970. Cook County; To Trumball Quarry about 11:30 am. Acris crepitans calling. Saw plenty of Acris and Rana clamitans, and a few small Rana catesbeiana. Caught one Acris tadpole. Temperatures in the upper 80s.
June 22, 1970. Cook County; Beck Lake, from a canoe. Rana clamitans and Acris crepitans were calling occasionally. In the northwest part of the lake tracked down an Acris calling from among cattails. It was sitting on floating algae among the cattails, and stopped calling when we were only about two feet away.
May 30, 1971. Volo Bog. Several Acris calling from near the center of the bog.
Literature Cited
Smith, P. W. 1961. The amphibians and reptiles of Illinois. Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 28(1):1-298.
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| Updated: October 9, 2007
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