Boreal Chorus Frog

Scientific Name: Pseudacris maculata

Adults reach 1 to 1.5 inches in length, and females are usually larger than males; newly metamorphosed juveniles are less than 1 inch long.
Brown, olive, tan, or green (sometimes bicolored) 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.

Common, but seldom seen due to its small size and secretive habits.
Live in moist meadows and forests near wetlands.
Lays eggs in loose irregular clusters attached to submerged vegetation in quiet water.

Breeds in shallow temporary pools or ponds during the late spring.
Calls are very conspicuous, resemble 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.

Western tiger salamanders are common and abundant in some areas of Yellowstone.

To survive the winter, Columbia spotted frogs go into water that does not freeze.

Western toads were once common throughout Yellowstone.

In 2015, a breeding population of plains spadefoot toads was confirmed in Yellowstone.

Amphibians are valuable indicators of stressors such as disease or climate change.

Last updated: September 11, 2019

PO Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190-0168

307-344-7381

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