Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Bird-voiced treefrogs (Hyla avivoca) are na­tive to the south­east­ern por­tion of the United States. This species is most com­monly found in states bor­der­ing the Mis­sis­sippi River, as far west as Ok­la­homa, as far east as Florida and as far north as Illi­nois. They are con­cen­trated in Mis­sis­sippi, Al­abama, Ten­nessee and Geor­gia, and lo­cated as dis­junct pop­u­la­tions through­out cen­tral Arkansas, cen­tral and east­ern Louisiana, and east­ern Ok­la­homa. Bird-voiced treefrogs are found in the south­ern re­gion of Illi­nois but are also listed as en­dan­gered in this state. (Ful­mer and Tum­li­son, 2004; IUCN SSC Am­phib­ian Spe­cial­ist Group, 2014)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Bird-voiced treefrogs live in swampy con­di­tions near rivers and streams in the tem­per­ate for­est re­gion. Males are most com­monly found perched up in trees about 0.5-2.5m above the water's sur­face just be­fore breed­ing sea­son be­gins. Bird-voiced treefrogs are most com­monly found in wooded swamps along rivers and streams mainly con­sist­ing of bald­cy­press (Tax­odium dis­tichum), but­ton­bush (Cepha­lan­thus oc­ci­den­talis), and tu­pelo (Nyssa) They also can be found lower to the ground in small shrubs or in an open­ing at the base of a tree's trunk. Dur­ing early stages of de­vel­op­ment, lar­vae and tad­poles in­habit shal­low pools of fresh­wa­ter. (Ful­mer and Tum­li­son, 2004; IUCN SSC Am­phib­ian Spe­cial­ist Group, 2014)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial
• freshwater

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest

• Aquatic Biomes
• rivers and streams

• Wetlands
• swamp

• Other Habitat Features
• riparian

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Bird-voiced treefrogs are a tree-dwelling species that rely on their phys­i­cal ap­pear­ance for pro­tec­tion and re­pro­duc­tion. Males’ snout-vent length can range from 2.8-3.9 cm with fe­males being slightly larger at 3.2- 5.2 cm. They have smooth skin with a mu­cous cov­er­ing that helps limit water loss while perched in trees above rivers and streams. Their feet are webbed and have spe­cial ad­he­sive padding qual­i­ties for climb­ing. Like most treefrog species, bird-voiced treefrogs have bulging eyes with rounded snouts and small white spots on the skin in­fe­rior to the eyes. This species tone varies from brown to grey mix­ing with green and black blotch­ing specif­i­cally lo­cal­ized on the dor­sal re­gion. Their limbs have dark stripes and can ei­ther be a grey or green-yel­low color. The ven­tral side of bird-voiced treefrogs is pale white with dark spots in the an­te­rior re­gion.

Bird-voiced treefrog tad­poles have been recorded in lengths up to 3.5 cm. They have long black tails with cop­per mark­ings and a pointed tip. Their tail fins are grey and spot­ted with black. (Lan­noo, 2005; Volpe, et al., 1961)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger

• Range length

  2.8 to 5.2 cm

  1.10 to 2.05 in

• Average length

  3.2 cm

  1.26 in

De­vel­op­ment

Bird-voiced treefrog fe­males re­lease eggs, which are ex­ter­nally fer­til­ized by males. The eggs of bird-voiced treefrogs tend to be a dark brown and cream color, and are com­prised of the ovum and two lay­ers sur­round­ing the ovum. These eggs are found sub­merged in water, in the sed­i­ment of rivers and streams, at­tached to gravel by the sticky jelly coat that sur­rounds their outer layer. Hatch­lings em­ploy pe­ri­odic mus­cle con­trac­tions to work their way out of the gelati­nous egg. Once out, they are ca­pa­ble of swim­ming.

The first stage of growth pre­ced­ing hatch­ing is the con­struc­tion of the gills on the tad­pole and the de­vel­op­ment of teeth. The lar­val pe­riod for Hyla avivoca will last up to 30 days after hatch­ing. Dur­ing this time the tad­pole ex­pe­ri­ences rapid growth. At the start of meta­mor­pho­sis the hind limbs begin to de­velop, start­ing out as a small bud with the toe pads form­ing first and even­tu­ally de­vel­op­ing into full hind ap­pendages. Once these ap­pendages are de­vel­oped, the tad­pole is able to start the meta­mor­phic process. Once this process be­gins, the tad­pole starts to de­velop an­te­rior ap­pendages, the tale be­gins to shorten, and the head be­comes more dis­tinct. Even­tu­ally the tail dis­ap­pears com­pletely and the tad­pole reaches full adult growth. (Volpe, et al., 1961)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis

Re­pro­duc­tion

Bird-voiced treefrog mat­ing sea­son be­gins in late spring (April and May) and con­tin­ues through much of the sum­mer (June-Au­gust). Re­pro­duc­tive ma­tu­rity of fe­male bird-voiced treefrogs be­gins any­where be­tween years 2-4 of life. These frogs have a polyg­y­nan­drous sys­tem of mat­ing, mean­ing males and fe­males have mul­ti­ple mat­ing part­ners. Mat­ing pref­er­ence is de­ter­mined by call com­pe­ti­tion among males to win over fe­males. The call of the males is stim­u­lated by the warm­ing of tem­per­a­tures in the spring (about 20 de­grees Cel­sius), and males can begin call­ing up to a month be­fore breed­ing even be­gins. Male bird-voiced tree frogs pro­duce a bird-like call while perched in trees above water, while the fe­males re­main at ground level. Male com­pe­ti­tion is dis­played by puls­ing rhythm sounds and length of call time. Ger­hardt and Mar­tinez-Rivera (2008) found that males lack­ing com­pe­ti­tion had an av­er­age of about five calls per minute. When the males were com­pet­ing against one an­other, their calls av­er­aged at about six calls per minute and their puls­ing call rhythms al­ter­nated be­tween each com­pet­ing male. In areas where there were mul­ti­ple pos­si­ble male mates (av­er­ag­ing 2.5 me­ters apart), the fe­males re­acted to the male with the longest call fre­quency.

When the fe­males de­tect a dis­tin­guish­able call, neu­rons are then stim­u­lated dis­play­ing phono­tac­tic be­hav­ior to ap­proach the male. After the ini­tial ap­proach, the male will latch onto the dor­sal side of the fe­male, and they? will then mi­grate as one down from the perch­ing site to water. The fe­male then be­gins to de­posit her eggs into the water where they will begin de­vel­op­men (Ger­hardt and Martínez-Rivera, 2008; Lan­noo, 2005)

• Mating System
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

In a typ­i­cal breed­ing sea­son fe­male <Hyla avivoca> will pro­duce 409 to 811 eggs (av­er­age 632). Fe­male bird-voiced treefrogs reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity at 2-4 years old and are iteroparous, breed­ing once a year for the rest of their lives. Ovu­la­tion in fe­males oc­curs spon­ta­neously and is stim­u­lated by males’ calls. Age of sex­ual ma­tu­rity for males has not yet been de­ter­mined. The time from when the eggs are fer­til­ized to when they hatch av­er­ages around 2 days. Once hatch­ing oc­curs, the tad­poles meta­mor­phose after 30 days (Lan­noo, 2005; Volpe, et al., 1961)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• fertilization
  • external
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Bird-voiced treefrogs breed once or twice yearly

• Breeding season

  Late spring (April and May) through early summer (June and July)

• Range number of offspring

  409 eggs to 811 eggs

• Average number of offspring

  632 eggs

• Average time to hatching

  2 days

• Average time to independence

  0 days

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  2 years

There is no parental in­vest­ment from bird-voiced tree frogs after the eggs have been de­posited in water. (Lan­noo, 2005)

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement

Lifes­pan/Longevity

In the wild, fe­male bird-voiced treefrogs have been known to live as long as 4 years. Male bird-voiced treefrog lifes­pan is un­known. No in­for­ma­tion has been re­ported on the lifes­pan of bird-voiced treefrogs in cap­tiv­ity, be­cause they are not known to be kept in cap­tiv­ity. (Lan­noo, 2005)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  4 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  2.5 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Bird-voiced treefrogs re­main mostly as a soli­tary species ex­cept dur­ing mat­ing sea­son when they in­ter­act and com­mu­ni­cate for re­pro­duc­tion. Their biggest dis­tinc­tive be­hav­ior is the males’ vo­cal­iza­tions dur­ing called of fe­males. Bird-voiced treefrogs are motile and have feet adapted for climb­ing trees pro­vid­ing them with their scan­so­r­ial be­hav­ior. Males climb to find perch­ing sites where they will send out their calls dur­ing breed­ing sea­sons. Males and fe­males will also use their abil­ity to climb and jump in order to scav­enge for in­sects on the bark of trees. Fe­males re­main mostly ter­ri­colous spend­ing their time under logs, in shrubs, and in other ground veg­e­ta­tion. No mi­gra­tory pat­terns of Hyla avivoca are known. Many sci­en­tists be­lieve this species of treefrog re­mains seden­tary through­out of their life. Be­hav­ior of tad­poles is pri­mar­ily nata­to­r­ial until they begin to de­velop legs and lungs. (IUCN SSC Am­phib­ian Spe­cial­ist Group, 2014; Lan­noo, 2005)

• Key Behaviors
• scansorial
• terricolous
• saltatorial
• natatorial
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary
• solitary

Home Range

Home range has not been re­ported for this species. It ap­pears that males de­fend an un­spec­i­fied ter­ri­tory dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son, as male-male bat­tles have been re­ported on call­ing perches. (Lan­noo, 2005)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Bird-voiced treefrogs com­mu­ni­cate pri­mar­ily for mat­ing pur­poses. Male bird-voiced treefrogs com­mu­ni­cate with their po­ten­tial mates through their unique bird­like call. Fe­males are bet­ter at­tracted to shorter low-pitched calls when only a sin­gle male is pre­sent, but when males call in a group cho­rus the fe­males choose mates with long, higher pitched calls. Ger­hardt and Mar­tinez-Rivera (2008) found that males dis­play a unique tech­nique of call­ing when com­pet­ing with other males called pulse in­ter­dig­i­ta­tion. This tech­nique works by each frog al­ter­ing its calls to where the pulse call fre­quen­cies do not over­lap but in­stead in­te­grate within each oth­ers calls. This uniquely iden­ti­fies each male in a cho­rus and fa­cil­i­tates mate se­lec­tion. Fe­males will ap­proach a call­ing male and, once paired, will re­pro­duce and mi­grate to water to de­posit the eggs. Male bird-voiced treefrogs also can dis­play com­pet­i­tive be­hav­ior and com­mu­ni­cate with other com­peti­tors that come too close by vo­cal­iz­ing a high-pitched call as a warn­ing. Tac­tile sense dur­ing mat­ing is per­ceived by the males be­hav­ior to latch on the the fe­male dor­sal. It has not been re­ported in this species, but other species in this genus use chemosen­sory be­hav­ior to avoid preda­tors dur­ing pe­ri­ods of call­ing. (Ger­hardt and Martínez-Rivera, 2008; Lan­noo, 2005)

• Communication Channels
• acoustic

• Other Communication Modes
• choruses

• Perception Channels
• acoustic

Food Habits

Bird-voiced treefrogs are in­sec­ti­vores that for­age pri­mary at night and on ar­bo­real arthro­pods. Jami­son et al. (1999) in­spected the di­ges­tive con­tents in 14 fe­male bird-voiced treefrogs and showed that they con­tained in­sect species such as ela­terid bee­tles (Ela­teri­dae), chrysomelid bee­tles (Chrysomel­i­dae), ho­mopter­ans, and moth and but­ter­fly lar­vae. Based on the type of in­sect species these frogs are con­sum­ing sug­gest that bird-voiced treefrogs for­age while perched in trees. (Jamieson, et al., 1999)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore
  • eats non-insect arthropods

• Animal Foods
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods

Pre­da­tion

No sci­en­tific stud­ies and ob­ser­va­tions re­port spe­cific preda­tors of bird-voiced treefrogs, but it is be­lieved, like most tree frog species, ju­ve­niles and adults are preyed on by water snakes, birds, and other ver­te­brates (Lan­noo, 2005). Their brown and green tint­ing of the skin dis­plays a cryp­tic form of adap­ta­tion by match­ing with their en­vi­ron­ment. (Lan­noo, 2005)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

Ecosys­tem Roles

Al­though the preda­tors of this species are un­known, Lan­noo (2005) sug­gested they are preyed upon by birds, water snakes, and other ver­te­brates. Bird-voiced treefrogs are preda­tors of ar­bo­real arthro­pods. Jamieson et al. (1993) ob­served 61 ju­ve­nile and adult bird-voiced treefrogs, and found that they were in­fected with pro­to­zoans and platy­helminths. Spe­cific species of pro­to­zoans in­clude Tritri­chomonas au­gusta, Opalina, and Nyc­totherus cordi­formis. Platy­helminth par­a­sites in­clude Mega­lodis­cus tem­per­a­tus, Cylin­dro­tae­nia amer­i­cana, Ab­bre­vi­ata, Ba­tra­cholan­dros bassii, and Os­wal­docruzia pip­i­ens. (Jamieson, et al., 1993; Lan­noo, 2005)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

There is no known in­for­ma­tion re­gard­ing the pos­i­tive eco­nomic ben­e­fits of bird-voiced treefrogs for hu­mans.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects in the eco­nomic im­por­tance of bird-voiced treefrogs.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Ac­cord­ing to IUCN Red List, the range of bird-voiced treefrogs in­clude state and fed­eral gov­ern­ment lands that are fairly se­cure. Bird-voiced treefrogs are listed as threat­ened in the state of Illi­nois, due to the species ex­ist­ing in iso­lated pock­ets. Be­cause these iso­lated pock­ets re­strict in­ter­ac­tion, genes are not shared and long-term re­pro­duc­tive suc­cess could be im­pacted. This treefrog species also in­hab­its bot­tom­land hard­wood swamps and forested flood­plains; if these lands are cleared or drained, the frogs are forced out of their habi­tat, and their chances of sur­vival de­creases. (IUCN SSC Am­phib­ian Spe­cial­ist Group, 2014; Lan­noo, 2005)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Danielle Cy­burt (au­thor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Alex At­wood (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Marisa Dameron (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Karen Pow­ers (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

Ful­mer, T., R. Tum­li­son. 2004. Im­por­tant records of the bird-voiced treefrog (Hyla avivoca) in the head­wa­ters of the Oua­chita River drainage of south­west­ern Arkansas. South­east­ern Nat­u­ral­ist, 3/2: 256-266.

Ger­hardt, C., C. Martínez-Rivera. 2008. Ad­ver­tise­ment-call mod­i­fi­ca­tion, male com­pe­ti­tion, and fe­male pref­er­ence in the bird-voiced treefrog Hyla avivoca. Be­hav­ior Ecol­ogy & So­cio­bi­ol­ogy, 63/2: 195-208.

IUCN SSC Am­phib­ian Spe­cial­ist Group, 2014. "Hyla avivoca" (On-line). The IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species ver­sion 2014: e.T55403A64265196. Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 15, 2016 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org/​details/​55403/​0.

Jamieson, D., C. McAl­lis­ter, S. Trauth, S. Upton. 1993. En­dopar­a­sites of the bird-voiced treefrog, Hyla avivoca (Anura: Hyl­i­dae), from Arkansas. Jour­nal of the Helmintho­log­i­cal So­ci­ety, 60/1: 140-143.

Jamieson, D., M. Red­mer, S. Trauth. 1999. Notes on the diet of fe­male bird-voiced treefrogs (Hyla avivoca) in south­ern Illi­nois. Trans­ac­tions of the Illi­nois State Acad­emy of Sci­ence, 92/3&4: 271-275.

Lan­noo, M. 2005. Am­phib­ian De­clines: The Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus of United States Species. Los An­ge­les, Cal­i­for­nia: Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Press.

Volpe, P., M. Wilkens, D. James. 1961. Em­bry­onic and lar­val de­vel­op­ment of Hyla avivoca. Copeia, 1961/3: 340-349.