Blanchard's cricket frog, Acris crepitans blanchardi 



age, males reproduce at age two. Females grow to a 

 body length of 4-5 inches, males are smaller, hut aver- 

 age size for both sexes is 2.0 to 3. 5 inches. 



Fowler's toad, Bu/o woodhousii fowleri, is similar to 

 the American toad, and for the casual observer dis- 

 tinguishing between them can be difficult. The Amer- 

 ican toad has a darkly mottled breast, as do some Illi- 

 nois Fowler's toads; however, most Fowler's toads have 

 a solid white or cream underside. Fowler's toad has lar- 

 ger dark dorsal (back) blotches with three or more 

 warts per blotch, while the American toad has only 

 one or two warts per blotch. There are other subtle 

 differences, but the situation is further complicated by 

 the occasional interbreeding of the two species, with 

 resultant hybrids that show characters of both. 



Fowler's toad seems to have a preference for sandy 

 soil, while the American toad prefers darker, organic 

 rich soils, and Fowler's toad usually breeds later in the 

 spring. However, I have seen both species calling 

 together at a dark-soil locality. The voice of Fowler's 

 toad — quite different from that of the American 

 toad — is a nasal "waah," lasting one to four seconds. 



Fowler's toad feigning death. After Dlckerson. 



Fowler's toads average 2 to 3 inches in length, but large 

 females reach 3. 75 inches. 



In the New World, the treefrogs, family Hylidae, 

 range from cold temperate latitudes in North America, 

 through the tropics, to cold temperate latitudes in 

 South America. The family contains about 630 spe- 

 cies, with diverse adaptations to the many environ- 

 ments they inhabit. Despite the common name "tree- 

 frogs," some do not climb at all, while others spend 

 their entire life in the forest canopy. 



Blanchard's cricket frog, Acris crepitans blanchardi, 

 was considered the "most common amphibian in Illi- 

 nois" by Philip W. Smith in his 1961 book The Amphi- 



22 



Western chorus frog, Pseudachs triseriata 



bians and Reptiles of Illinois, published by the Illinois 

 Natural History Survey. However, this tiny, 0.75-1.5- 

 inch frog underwent drastic population reductions in 

 the next two decades. 



It is a ground-dwelling treefrog with numerous 

 small warts and may have a green or rust-colored mid- 

 dorsal mark. Its cryptic coloration makes it all but 

 invisible when sitting on a muddy shoreline with small 

 pebbles. As one approaches a cricket frog along the 

 shoreline, it waits until one is three to four feet away, 

 then leaps into the water and swims out; within 

 seconds, however, it turns back, returning to within a 

 short distance of its original position. 



Males call in late April with a series of short, 

 metallic clicks. Newly metamorphosed individuals 

 (i.e., transformed from tadpole to frog) are present in 

 late summer or early fall. An Iowa study found that 

 they feed continuously day and night during the seven 

 months of the year they are active. They eat any small 

 arthropod, mostly insects, consuming about 20 prey 



