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Yellowstone National Park
Boreal Chorus Frog
Scientific name: Pseudacris triseriata maculata

Identification
  • Adults reach 1 to 1.5 inches in length, and females are usually larger than males; newly metamorphosed froglets are less than one inch long.
  • Brown, olive, tan, or green (sometimes bi-colored) with a prominent black stripe on each side from the nostril through the eye and down the sides to the groin; three dark stripes down the back, often incomplete or broken into blotches.
Habitat
  • Common, but seldom seen due to its small size and secretive habits.
  • Lives in moist meadows and forests near wetlands.
  • Lays eggs in loose, irregular clusters attached to submerged vegetation in quiet water.
Behavior
  • Breeds in shallow temporary pools or ponds during the late spring.
  • Calls are very conspicuous, resembling the sound of a thumb running along the teeth of a comb.
  • Males call and respond, producing a loud and continuous chorus at good breeding sites, from April to early July, depending on elevation and weather.
  • Usually call in late afternoon and evening.
  • Tadpoles eat aquatic plants; adults mostly eat insects.
  • Eaten by fish, predacious aquatic insect larvae, other amphibians, garter snakes, mammals, and birds.

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Last Updated: June 10, 2009 at 20:10 MST