Amphibians of Wisconsin

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Amphibians of Wisconsin

The term amphibian means "both life forms" and refers to a life history that usually requires aquatic and terrestrial (land) habitats. For many of us frogs and toads are part of nature that we have enjoyed since childhood. Salamanders are not as well known as frogs due to their secretive nature, as salamanders are almost exclusively noctural, spending their days under logs or underground. Other amphibians include the lesser known newts, lungless salamanders, mudpuppies, and treefrogs. But degredation of the enviroments we share with these creatures is signaling trouble. Our own lives may depend upon heeding their warnings and being willing to take actions to save them. Wisconsin currently has one amphibian species endangered with extinction.

>Mole Salamanders
Blue-spotted Salamander
Spotted Salamander
Eastern Tiger Salamander

>Newts
Central Newt

>Lungless Salamanders
Four-toed Salamander
Red-backed Salamander

>Mudpuppies and Waterdogs
Mudpuppy

>Toads
Eastern American Toad

>Treefrogs
Blanchard's Cricket Frog (endangered)
Western and Boreal Chorus Frogs
Northern Spring Peeper
Cope's Gray Treefrog
Eastern Gray Treefrog

>True Frogs
Bullfrog
Green Frog
Pickerel Frog
Northern Leopard Frog
Mink Frog
Wood Frog

SOURCE: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/

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The Blanchard's cricket frog is a tiny (7/8 to 1 1/4 inch long, snout to vent), nonclimbing member of the treefrog family which lives in ponds and streams of southwestern Wisconsin. The frog is named for the biologist who first described it, Frank Nelson Blanchard, and for its distinctive cricket-like call.

Male and female Blanchard's cricket frogs look alike, but females are usually larger. Males have a dark vocal sac on their throats that they inflate to help make their mating call. Back color is variable, but is usually brown, gray, olive, or tan, sometimes with a green or reddish stripe running down the middle. Their moist skin has raised reddish spots, or warts. There is a dark triangle or V-shaped spot between their eyes, often rust or lime green in color. Bellies are white and each thigh has dark, ragged crossbars that create a somewhat netlike pattern.

Historically, Blanchard's cricket frogs were found from Southwestern Ontario, Michigan, and Ohio west to Nebraska and south to include most of Texas. Small populations extend into eastern Colorado and New Mexico. Today, this species has almost disappeared from much of the Northern portion of its range, including Ontario, most of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. In Wisconsin, the historical range of the Blanchard's cricket frog was limited to the southern half of the state.
Habitat

Cricket frogs require reasonably permanent water in open country. Open mud flats and stream banks with abundant, low emergent vegetation are preferred. They inhabit marshes, fens, and wet prairies near permanent or flowing water. In lakes and ponds they prefer aquatic sites where submergent vegetation grows along the shorelines. They need soft muddy bottoms to hibernate in through the winter.
Habits

Cricket frogs live mostly on the edges of ponds and streams with submerged or emergent vegetation. Look for them sitting on aquatic plants or sitting at the water's edge.

Cricket frogs can leap great distances, despite their small size. With long legs that are over half of their extended body length, cricket frogs can jump more than three feet. That's like a six foot tall person jumping 200 feet! Cricket frogs escape predators (e.g. fish, snakes, herons, mink) with a quick series of zig-zagging, erratic leaps.

Cricket frogs are cold-blooded. This means that they cannot maintain a steady body temperature like birds and mammals. To survive Wisconsin's freezing winters, they hibernate from late November until late March.
Life History

Cricket frogs are mostly diurnal (active during the day) in spring and fall, but also nocturnal (active after dark) in May through July when males call night and day to attract mates. Their distinctive mating call sounds like steel marbles clicking together. It starts slowly, accelerates, then slows down quickly.

Cricket frogs are sexually mature when one year old. They breed in late May to late July. A male will mate with any female that approaches him. He grasps her body, stimulating her to release eggs while he releases sperm. The eggs are attached to submergent vegetation in clumps of 10 - 15 and are fertilized outside the body. A single female may lay up to 300 eggs. Eggs hatch in a few days into tiny tadpoles (0.4 inches long) that have a black-tipped tail. No other tadpoles have this trait. Tadpoles metamorphose (change) between late July and late August. The average lifespan of an adult cricket frog is four months. This very short lifespan means that the entire population can turn over in only 16 months.

Frogs, along with toads and salamanders, are amphibians. "Amphibian" means "double life," a name given to these animals because, with few exceptions, they spend part of their life cycle in water and part on land. Frog eggs hatch into tadpoles which live in the water. Tadpoles metamorphose from gilled animals into air-breathing adults that are able to live on land.
Food Habits

Blanchard’s cricket frogs mostly eat tiny insects including beetles, spiders, midge larvae, water boatmen, springtails, and small slugs and crickets. They feed both day and night and consume large numbers of prey. One study estimated that in Wisconsin, 100 cricket frogs living around a small pond would consume 480,000 insects and other small vertebrates in one season.
Status in WISCONSIN

Prior to 1970, Blanchard’s cricket frogs were quite common in southern Wisconsin. Then the population declined rapidly. During the 1980s, biologists and volunteers found no cricket frogs in many of the sites where they existed previously. A 1991 survey of 40 historic cricket frog sites found that only 19 of those sites were occupied by cricket frogs. In a 1994 follow-up study of 24 sites (including 12 sites active in 1991) only 5 were active. None of the sites had strong populations. However, two new sites, with fairly large cricket frog numbers, were discovered in 1994. In recent years this frog has been documented in three southwestern Wisconsin counties; Grant, Lafayette, and Iowa.

While the cause of this dramatic decline is not certain, it is known that cricket frogs can't survive in polluted water. Several factors are suspected to be involved, including drought (especially during winter), increased amounts of pesticides, fertilizers, highway salts, and other pollutants that degrade water quality and the loss or fragmentation of wetlands in the southern part of the state. The tremendous flooding of 1993 which resulted in the flushing of several key rivers twice during cricket frog breeding is suspected to be the cause for the most recent declines. Low populations and a very limited life span will severely limit recovery.

Because of the rapid decline in their numbers and their low population, Blanchard's cricket frogs were placed on the Wisconsin Endangered Species List in 1982. Only a few hundred cricket frogs are currently estimated to exist in the state.
Research and Management

Since frogs are sensitive to changes in water quality, they can serve as indicators of environmental problems. As the cricket frog populations decline, concerns about the deteriorating condition of their habitat increase. In 1981, the Wisconsin Frog and Toad Survey was initiated to determine the abundance and distribution of frogs and toads in the state, and to assess the quality of their wetland habitats. This study was expanded in 1984, becoming a statewide volunteer program designed to obtain long-term information about Wisconsin frog and toad population trends.

While no cricket frog management plan has been developed, the DNR encourages citizens to reduce the use of environmental contaminants that get into the water supply, and discourages the destruction of the wetlands so critical to the survival of Blanchard's cricket frogs and other Wisconsin wildlife.
What You Can Do

The Wisconsin Frog and Toad Survey requires the assistance of many people. Volunteer observers survey select wetland sites three times during the frog and toad breeding season. Observers listen for the distinctive calls of Wisconsin’s twelve species of frogs and toads, and record information about species presence and estimated abundance. If you are interested in becoming a long term volunteer observer, contact the BER at the address given below.

Maintaining the existence and quality of Wisconsin's wetlands is essential to the survival of many wetland plants and animals. Wetlands also help humans by filtering and helping to purify our ground water. To find out more about the importance of wetlands and how to prevent and solve the problem of water pollution and wetland destruction, contact the DNR and your local government and environmental organizations.

Endangered Resources Reports

For more information about Blanchard's Cricket Frog, see the reports by topic Blanchard's Cricket Frog reports.

To order any of these reports, please e-mail your request to Bureau.EndangeredResources@dnr.state.wi.us.

SOURCE: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/

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The Blue-spotted Salamander attains a length as an adult between 4 and 5.5 inches. It is found in moist wooded areas under debris such as rotting logs, vegetation and loose soil. The spotting is generally light blue or white on a dark blue to black background, and the belly is also dark. The Jefferson Salamander is the only salamander that could be confused with the Blue-spotted by virtue of it also having blue spots, but the Jefferson Salamander's spots are generally small flecks. The Jefferson Salamander also has a paler background color and light colored belly versus the dark blue/black background color of the Blue-spotted. These two species hybridize in the parts of their ranges that overlap making identification in these areas difficult.

compare distribution maps at:
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/narcam/idguide/ambylat.htm

Hybrids tend to reach larger sizes than the Blue-spotted Salamander and have a paler background closer to the Jefferson Salamander. Within hydrid zones check the vent - this is surrounded by black in the Blue-spotted and gray in the Jefferson.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of the Interior || U.S. Geological Survey
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, 8711 37th St. SE, Jamestown, ND 58401 USA
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/narcam/

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Eastern Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum tigrinum)

The Tiger Salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum covers a wide range of areas extending nearly coast to coast in North America. There are several subspecies within this complex, but some researcehers are of the opinion that the group should be divided into two different species. Previously, even the California Tiger Salamander was considered a subspecies of Ambystoma tigrinum (A. t. californiense), but is now regarded as a separate species, Ambystoma californiense. Of the 6 subspecies of Ambystoma tigrinum discussed here it is the Eastern Tiger Salamander that may some day be regarded as a separate species, in which case it would be given the name Ambystoma tigrinum, while the remaining would be grouped under the name Ambystoma mavortium while retaining the original subspecies name. For example, the Barred Tiger Salamander would then be called Ambystoma mavortium mavortium). The Tiger Salamanders are large, robust salamanders reaching average total lengths up to 8.5 inches, though some individuals over 12 inches long have been found. Outside of the breeding season they are seldom seen, as they spend most of their time underground, often in mammal burrows.

The Eastern Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum tigrinum). They are characterized by a dark background with light yellow-gold markings extending down their sides.It is found in the eastern half of North America. In the south it is also a winter breeder, in the north an early spring breeder, migrating to ponds after heavy rains.

Neoteny. Some populations of Tiger Salamanders, particularly in western North America and especially at high altitudes tend to be neotenic. This means that although the salamanders become sexually mature and can reproduce they do not metamorphose, remaining as larvae and breathing with gills. These are sometimes called Axolotls. However, this name is best reserved for Ambystoma mexicanum, a mole salamander species from Mexico that never metamorphoses under natural conditions. Neotenic Tiger Salamanders can become larger than individuals that metamorphose, reaching total lengths of 15 inches.

Tiger Salamander Larvae - external gills distinguish salamander larvae from frog tadpoles (which have internal gills). The legs of the younger (and smaller) larva above left have not yet emerged. In contrast to anurans, the front legs emerge first, then the back. The larva above was found in May, the one below in August.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of the Interior || U.S. Geological Survey
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, 8711 37th St. SE, Jamestown, ND 58401 USA
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/narcam/

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Central Newt (Notophthalmus viridens louisianensis)

Description: Aquatic adults have smooth skin with orange and black spots on a brownish-orange to light olive-colored background. The ventral side is yellowish with many black flecks. Terrestrial adults are dark olive to brown above with a whitish ventral side speckled with black flecks. The skin of terrestrial adults is textured like medium sandpaper. The eft, the terrestrial juvenile phase, is primarily a plain brown-orange color with tiny black flecks throughout. Newts live in well-vegetated woodland ponds, roadside ditches, and more permanent riparian wetlands. They eat small earthworms, snails, aquatic insects, and other amphibian larvae.

Family: Salamandridae

Size: 2.5 to 4 in.

Status: Common

ARMI National Atlas for Amphibian Distributions
http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/armiatlas/s...ecordID=173615

SOURCES:
United States Amphibian Atlas Database

SOURCE: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/

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Four-toed Salamander, Hemidactylium scutatum

A small salamander commonly reaching lengths up to 3.5 inches. This salamander has 4 toes on the hind feet where most salamanders generally have 5 toes. Another distinguishing characteristic of this salamander is the constricted area at the base of the tail. This is the area where the tail will break off if grabbed by a predator. Be careful not to grab or pull at the tail. The dorsal coloration of this salamander is generally a reddish brown fading to a gray or black on the sides. The four-toed salamander can also be distinguished by its white belly with bold black dots throughout. Their range of occurrence is found throughout the eastern United States. Their distribution however, is patchy in many of the states. The inhabit mossy areas of bogs and forests in their range.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of the Interior || U.S. Geological Survey
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, 8711 37th St. SE, Jamestown, ND 58401 USA
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/narcam/

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Eastern Red-backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus

The Red-backed Salamander along with all salamanders within the family Plethodontidae are lungless. Nearly all of their respiration takes place through cutaneous gas exchange. This means that they breathe through their skin. The remaining gas exchange takes place through buccopharyngeal (within the mouth) respiration. The Red-backed Salamander is characterized by the red stripe which begins immediately behind the head and extends nearly to the tip of the tail. The red stripe is usually very straight throughout its entire length along the body and generally covers the entire back of the salamander.

In some populations the red color of the stripe is replaced by dark gray. This is called the lead-backed phase. This color phase occurs throughout the range of the Red-backed Salamander, though it appears to be rare in high altitude populations. The belly is finely mottled with equal amounts of white and black creating a "salt and peppar" effect. They normally reach a length of about 4 inches. They are completely terrestrial (though dependent upon moisture), laying eggs that hatch directly into salamanders.
The Red-backed Salamander is the most commonly encountered salamander throughout most of its range.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of the Interior || U.S. Geological Survey
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, 8711 37th St. SE, Jamestown, ND 58401 USA
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/narcam/

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Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus)

The mudpuppy is Wisconsin’s largest and only totally aquatic salamander. Its permanent deep-red gills are very bushy and feather-like. The dorsal color is rusty-brown or grayish with scattered dark spots. Occasionally, individuals are a dark bluish-black with fine brown speckling. They have four toes on each foot and the tail is finned. Mudpuppies live in lakes and rivers, preferring large flat rock microhabitats although large riprap (piled boulders) may also be used. They also use eroded holes within clay lenses in submerged riverbanks.
The mudpuppy is host to the state-endangered salamander mussel, which would presumably go extinct if the mudpuppy was eliminated. Mudpuppies feed on aquatic invertebrates including worms, small fish and other amphibians.
The rumor that mudpuppies are poisonous is false.

Wisconsin status: locally common
length: 12 to 16 inches

SOURCE: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/

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Eastern American Toad
(Bufo americanus americanus)


Listen to its Call:
A prolonged, high-pitched trill that may last more than 30 seconds

Size: 5.1-11.1 cm in length (2-4.4 inches)

Coloring:
Highly variable in color, ranging from tan, brown, or reddish brown to gray or olive. Most individuals have dark, rounded spots on the back, each of which encircles one or two warts. A light line may run down the middle of the back. The throat and belly are whitish or yellowish with black or gray spotting.

Habitat:
Widely ranging throughout the Great Lakes region; can be found in urban parks, suburban backyards, farmland, savannas, prairies and forests.

When not out looking for food, eastern American toads will keep cool by spending much of their time buried in dirt, leaves, or beneath logs or rocks. They dig into the ground backwards, using their hind feet as shovels. In the winter, they simply burrow deeper to escape the cold.

Confusing Species:
Fowler's Toads usually have three or more warts within each of the larger spots on their backs, and often have unmarked, whitish undersides. Their short, nasal-sounding breeding call is quite unlike the long, musical trill of the Eastern American Toad. These two toad species may interbreed.

Breeding: April to July

SOURCE: http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/

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Western and Boreal Chorus Frogs
(Pseudacris triseriata)

Family: Hylidae

Size: .7 to 1.2 in.

Status: Common and stable

The western chorus frog is pale green or tan with three long, broken, brown stripes running lengthwise along the body. An additional stripe runs from the nostril, through the eye, to the rear legs. Under this stripe is a white line running the length of the lip. The limbs have dark spots or crossbars. The boreal chorus frog is a light gray to cream color with thick, dark green dorsal stripes. The chorus frog’s call is like the sound produced when running your fingernail over the fine teeth of a plastic comb. Marshes, wet prairies, river-bottom forests, shrub wetlands and old moist fields are favored habitats. Chorus frogs call from within grassy clumps in water and are nearly impossible to visually locate.

SOURCE: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/

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This one is my personal favorite frogs.
RedRaven
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Northern Spring Peeper
(Pseudacris crucifer crucifer)


Listen to its Call:
A high-pitched, rising "peep!" given about one per second; a male peeper may also give a lower-pitched trilled whistle, usually when another male has moved too close to its calling site

Size: 2-3.7 cm in length (0.8-1.5 inches)

Coloring:
Brown, tan or gray with dark slanting stripes on the back that usually form an X-shaped mark; the belly is white, yellowish or cream colored; this frog has some color-changing ability and can darken or lighten, depending on its mood or the surroundings.

Habitat:
Found in temporary and permanent ponds, marshes, floodings, and ditches; after the breeding season they move into woodlands, old fields or shrubby areas; common throughout the Great Lakes region, except in the far north along northeastern Lake Superior.

Confusing Species:
Striped Chorus Frogs have a light upper lip line and lengthwise stripes, instead of the X-like marking, on the back; Cricket Frogs are wartier and have a dark stripe on the inner thigh.

Breeding: Late March into May

FACT: Spring Peepers have large "vocal sacs" under their chins. They pump these sacs full of air until they look like a full balloon, then let out a mighty "peep" while discharging the air. The easiest way to see calling Peepers is to look for their shiny vocal sacs, which look like 25-cent pieces, inflating and deflating as they call.

The loud, peeping chorus of Spring Peepers means winter is finally coming to an end. These little frogs are among the very first to call and breed in the spring, often starting while there is still snow on the ground and ice on the lakes.

A spring pond full of peeping Peepers can sound like sleigh bells jingling -- only louder. Sometimes peepers make their calls while sitting under clumps of grass or in cracks or crevices in the earth. This position allows them to amplify the call, and also can create an effective ventriloquism: the frog sound seems to come from somewhere other than where the frog actually is!

>>Thanks to University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute for the information provided here.

SOURCE: http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/

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Copes Gray Treefrog
(Hyla chrysoscelis)


Call: A fast, harsh, buzzing trill usually lasting less than a second

Size: 3-6 cm in length (1.2-2.4 inches)

Coloring:
This frog has considerable color-changing ability; the same frog can vary in color from light gray to brown to pale green; one or more dark irregular blotches, sometimes outlined in black, may be visible on the back; a dark stripe or band often slants from the back of the eye to the front leg; belly is white, and there is a patch of bright yellow or orange under the hind legs

Habitat:
Favoring grasslands and savannas, these frogs also utilize farm woodlots, swamps, old fields, and suburban yards -- almost anywhere where breeding ponds are near trees or shrubs; most common throughout the western and southern portions of the Great Lakes region.

Confusing Species:
This frog is virtually identical to the Eastern Gray Treefrog, though the Eastern Gray Treefrog tends to be slightly larger and bumpier-skinned. The calls differ, however, and Eastern Gray Treefrogs have twice as many chromosomes as Cope's Gray Treefrogs.

Breeding: Early May to late June

FACT: Both the Cope's Gray Treefrog and the Eastern Gray Treefrog are most active at night, when they look for food in low shrubbery or in trees. They are talented climbers, and may scale trees to heights of 30 feet or more above the ground! A special mucus produced on their toes gives them an extra-sticky cling and helps them climb even smooth surfaces.

Did you know?

Gray Treefrogs cope with cold temperatures in an unusual way -- they literally freeze!

Experiments have shown that Gray Treefrogs can survive temperatures as low as -6 C (21 F) for several days, when more than 40% of their body fluids may be completely frozen.

They accomplish this by producing large amounts of glycerol in their blood and body tissues, which acts as a natural "antifreeze" to prevent ice from forming inside their cells.

SOURCE: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/

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MY FUNNY FROG STORY

My brother and I had a area of woods where most of the area kids rode bikes on dirt trails and built tree forts.
Our fort had been very primitive but hidden well. One year while building our fort I found a tree frog (Copes Gray Treefrog)
We had kept him in a large covered bucket hung in a tree with twigs and a bottom filled with water. The top had hole but not big enough for the frog.
I had dumped insects in as I visited on most days.
One late fall, on a very sunny day, the temperature had hit freezing.
I had remembered about my tree frog in the woods and was told not to go in winter due to being so cold. That snowy weekend I had made a journey to out to the fort by myself. Many trees had fallen from storms that fall and the fort was intact but surrounded by fallen trees. I seen the bucket hanging there but tipped sideways from a stray branch. The lid was gone. I was thinking the frog had escaped and figured it was fine.
I looked inside and seen twigs, ice and a froze frog stretched out as if he were jumping out. That day was sad day. My pet frog dead because I trapped him in a bucket.
Well spring came and things began melting. That fall I left the bucket in the fort and went home. When returning to the fort I found the bucket still there with it full of water, twigs and NO frog.
The frog lived and till high school I did not no why he out lived that frozen winter.
E. Jorgensen
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Did you know?

Gray Treefrogs cope with cold temperatures in an unusual way -- they literally freeze!

Experiments have shown that Gray Treefrogs can survive temperatures as low as -6 C (21 F) for several days, when more than 40% of their body fluids may be completely frozen.

They accomplish this by producing large amounts of glycerol in their blood and body tissues, which acts as a natural "antifreeze" to prevent ice from forming inside their cells.

SOURCE: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/