Pseudacris brachyphona

Geographic Range

Pseudacris brachyphona , the mountain chorus frog, is found in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America. They can be found from northwestern Pennsylvania to central Alabama.

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic nearctic
  • native native

Habitat

Mountain chorus frogs live mostly in higher elevations throughout Appalachia and have been discovered at elevations as high as 1050 meters. During their mating season, their most common habitats are small grassy vernal ponds or temporary rainwater pools. After the mating season, they travel to higher elevations and drier land. Eggs and tadpoles live in breeding pools until they undergo metamorphosis. When tadpoles morph into adults they also choose upland habitats.

• Habitat Regions
• temperate temperate
• terrestrial terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest forest
• mountains mountains

• Aquatic Biomes
• lakes and ponds
• temporary pools

Physical Description

Mountain chorus frogs are relatively small frogs. Although, the average mass could not be found, adult male total body length ranges from 26 to 30 mm and adult females from 28 to 34 mm. Coloring varies among individuals, but most are light brown with stripes or spots of varying shades of brown along their backs. They tend to have a stripe that starts along their snouts and runs across their eyes and back, blending into their dorsal patterning. Their legs are usually yellow and their throats can be between yellow and black (males) or white (females). Coloration also varies with age.

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic ectothermic
• heterothermic heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger
• sexes colored or patterned differently

Development

Mountain chorus frogs goes through the process of metamorphosis during their life cycle. Shortly after mating, females lay their eggs in clutches near the water’s edge in the breeding pond. Hatching occurs 6 to 10 days after the eggs are laid. The fully aquatic, gilled tadpoles live in the pond. During this period of growth, which lasts 50 to 60 days, tadpoles grow in size and start to develop hind legs. The frog’s legs bud when the tadpole is approximately 19 mm long. As the legs grow, the tail of the tadpole decreases in size until it is completely gone. Once the frog’s legs have formed, the lungs gradually replace the gills as a means of respiration. Once the lungs are fully formed, the frogs move outside of the water only returning to water to mate.

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis metamorphosis

Reproduction

Mountain chorus frogs begin their breeding season from early spring (around February) into late spring (June). During this time, males and females can mate multiple times but females generally only produce one clutch of eggs. Males begin the mating season by locating small breeding ponds. Once they find a suitable habitat they begin calling; this is the main way the males attract females. Females arrive at these pools and are greeted by males who grasp onto their backs to begin the mating ritual. After mating, males try to attract other females for mating. After breeding, females and males return to their terrestrial, forested habitats.

• Mating System
• polygynandrous (promiscuous) polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Mountain chorus frogs breed once a year from late winter to early summer. Females lay their eggs in small clutches of 10 to 50 individual eggs. They lay multiple clutches, adding up to around 300 offspring that begin to hatch 5 to 7 days after they are laid.

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

There is little parental care given to the offspring of Pseudacris brachyphona . After mating, males and females return to dry forested habitats.

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female

Lifespan/Longevity

Many mountain chorus frogs die while in the egg or tadpole stage, only 15 percent reaching adulthood. If they reach sexual maturity, the mortality rate for these frogs is decreased to nearly half of that for juveniles. Average lifespan is approximately 5 years for those that reach adulthood, with some reaching 7 years.

Behavior

Most information on mountain chorus frogs show that they are relatively solitary animals, only interacting with other members of the species during mating season. Males interact in the vernal ponds only when it's necessary to defend the areas in which they breed.

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• diurnal diurnal
• nocturnal nocturnal
• motile motile
• sedentary sedentary
• solitary solitary

Home Range

Mountain chorus frogs do not defend territories, although males may defend small areas in breeding ponds. They are also not thought to wander far from forested areas near potential breeding ponds.

Communication and Perception

Mountain chorus frogs generally only communicate with other individuals during the breeding season. Males use a call that is specific to their species in order to attract mates. The call has been described as distinct high-pitched chirps that are slightly shrill. The succession of their calls is rapid, occurring at a rate of 50 to 70 times a minute but lasts no more than 20 seconds. It is not known if P. brachyphona uses any other means of communication.

• Communication Channels
• acoustic acoustic

• Other Communication Modes
• choruses choruses

• Perception Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

Mountain chorus frogs rely mostly on insects as a food source. They eat beetles , which make up about 45 percent of their diet. Other prey items include spiders (25 percent), bugs (13 percent), ants , leafhoppers , flies centipedes , earthworms , and butterfly and moth larvae makes up the other 17 percent.

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

• Animal Foods
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods
• terrestrial worms

Predation

As tadpoles, mountain chorus frogs are preyed on by a wide range of potential predators near breeding pools, including fish, predatory insects, and other frogs. As they mature, predators are limited to larger frogs and snakes. American bullfrogs ( Rana catesbeiana ) are known predators. Their only known anti-predation adaptation would be using the coloration of their skin as camouflage.

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic cryptic

Ecosystem Roles

Mountain chorus frogs help control the populations of some species of insects found throughout their range as they prey on them. They are also prey to other frogs. Although parasite loads for this species is unknown, nematodes and trematodes have been found inside other species in the genus Pseudacris .

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Mountain chorus frogs feed on insects and help control pests.

• Positive Impacts
• controls pest population

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

There are no known adverse effects of mountain chorus frogs on humans.

Conservation Status

Mountain chorus frogs are listed as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List and are not mentioned on any of the other conservation lists. They are not currently considered to be in danger of extinction.

Additional Links

AmphibiaWeb

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Elisabet Minter (author), Radford University, Karen Powers (editor), Radford University, Tanya Dewey (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

References

Barbour, R. 1957. Observations on the Mountain Chorus Frog, Pseudacris Brachyphona (Cope) in Kentucky. American Midland Naturalist , 57/1: 125-128.

Cocroft, R. 1994. A Cladistic Analysis Of Chorus Frog Phylogeny (Hylidae: Pseudacris). Herpetologica , 50/4: 420-437.

Conant, R., J. Collins. 1998. A Field Guide to Reptiles & Amphibians: Eastern and Central North America . New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.

Dorcas, M., W. Gibbons. 2008. Frogs and Toads of the Southeast . Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press.

Elliott, L. 2004. The Calls of Frogs and Toads . Mechanicaburg, PA: Stackpole Books.

Gaudin, A. 1974. An Osteological Analysis of Holarctic Tree Frogs, Family Hylidae. Journal Of Herpetology , 8/2: 141-152.

Goldberg, S., C. Bursey, E. Gergus, B. Sullivan, Q. Truong. 1996. Helminths from Three Treefrogs Hyla arenicolor, Hyla wrightorum, and Pseudacris triseriata (Hylidae) from Arizona. The American Society of Parasitologists , 82/5: 833-835.

Green, N., T. Pauley. 1987. Amphibians and Reptiles in West Virginia . Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Green, N. 1938. The Breeding Habits of Pseudacris Brachyphona (Cope) with a Description of the Eggs and Tadpole. Copeia , 1938/2: 79-82.

Hoffman, R. 1995. On the Occurrence of Two Species of Hylid Frogs in Virginia. Herpetologica , 11/1: 30-32.

Jensen, J., C. Camp, W. Gibbons. 2008. Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia . Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press.

Lemmon, E., A. Lemmon, D. Cannatella. 2007. Geological and Climatic Forces Briving Speciation in the Continentally Distributed Trilling Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris). Evolution , 61/9: 2086-2103.

Lemmon, E., A. Lemmon, J. Collins, J. Lee-Yaw, D. Cannatella. 2007. Phylogeny-based Delimitation of Species Boundaries and Contact Zones in the Trilling Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution , 44/3: 1068-1082.

Mitchell, J., K. Reay. 1999. Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles in Virginia . Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Moriarty, E., D. Cannatella. 2004. Phylogenetic Relationships of the North American Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris: Hylidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution , 30/2: 409-420.

Platz, J., D. Forester. 1988. Geographic Variation in Mating Call Among the Four Subspecies of the Chorus Frog: Pseudacris Triseriata (Wied). Copeia , 1988/4: 1062-1066.

Turner, F. 1962. The Demography of Frogs and Toads. The Quarterly Review of Biology , 37/4: 303-314.

Walker, C. 1932. Pseudacris Brachyphona (Cope), A Valid Species. The Ohio Journal of Science , 32: 379-384.

Whitaker Jr., J. 1971. A Study of the Western Chorus Frog, Pseudacris triseriata, in Vigo County, Indiana. Journal of Herpetology , 5/3/4: 127-150.