Northern cricket frog

Description:

The northern cricket frog is one of North America's two smallest vertebrates, ranging from 0.75 to 1.5 inches (19–38 mm) long. Its dorsal coloration varies widely, and includes greys, greens and browns, often in irregular blotching patterns. One NY biologist has identified 6 distinct colour morphs and 4 pattern morphs, and several intrergrades between these.(Westerveld,1977). Typically there is dark banding on the legs and a white bar from the eye to the base of the foreleg. The skin has a bumpy texture. It is very similar to the southern cricket frog, Acris gryllus, found in the US Southeastern Coastal Plain, though there is some overlap along the fall line. The southern cricket frog has longer legs, with less webbing on the hind feet, and a more pointed snout; Northern Cricket Frogs have been observed with snouts indistinguishable from those of the Southern species (Westerveld, 1998). The line on the back of its thigh is typically more sharply defined than that of the northern cricket frog (Conant et al. 1998, Martof et al. 1980). Biologists have recorded northern cricket frogs in the northern fringes of their range with extremely sharp posterior leg stripes.

Habitat:

Cricket frogs prefer the edges of slow moving, permanent bodies of water. Large groups of them can often be found together along the muddy banks of shallow streams, esp. during premigratory clustering. The northern cricket frog has been observed to hibernate upland, often at considerable distance from water.

Notes:

Almost missed him, not sure what he is. Saw him earlier at WG Jones state forest