Chorus frog

Pseudacris (the chorus frogs) is a genus of frogs in the family Hylidae. They live in North America. They live as far west as the Pacific coast and as far east as the Atlantic coast.

Chorus frog
P ocularis USGS.jpg
Pseudacris ocularis, little grass frog
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Hylidae
Subfamily: Acrisinae
Genus: Pseudacris
Fitzinger, 1843
Synonyms

Chorophilus Baird, 1854
Helocaetes Baird, 1854
Heloecetes Baird, 1859 (misspelling)
Hyliola Mocquard, 1899
Limnaoedus Mittleman & List, 1953
Parapseudacris Hardy & Burrows, 1986
Pseudacris (Pycnacris) Fouquette & Dubois, 2014

The name comes from the Greek word pseudes (false) and akris (locust). Scientists might have named these frogs false-locust because the frog's voices sound like locust's voices: a repeated rasping trill sound. They also might have named these frogs false-Acris because there is another frog genus called Acris.[1]

Taxonomy

Scientists disagree about which species should be in this genus. Because these frogs can hybridize, meaning make healthy young together, molecular genetic research cannot help much.[2]

Frost et al. list 19 species in this genus, and AmphibiaWeb lists 17 species, leaving out P. hypochondriaca and P. sierra:[3][4]

Binomial name and author Common name
Pseudacris brachyphona (Cope, 1889) Appalachian mountain chorus frog
Pseudacris brimleyi (Brandt & Walker, 1933) Brimley's chorus frog
Pseudacris cadaverina (Cope, 1866) California tree frog
Pseudacris clarkii (Baird, 1854) spotted chorus frog
Pseudacris collinsorum (Ospina, Tieu, Apodaca & Lemmon, 2020) Collinses’ mountain chorus frog
Pseudacris crucifer (Wied-Neuwied, 1838) spring peeper
Pseudacris feriarum (Baird, 1854) upland chorus frog
Pseudacris fouquettei (Lemmon et al., 2008) Cajun chorus frog
Pseudacris hypochondriaca (Hallowell, 1854) Baja chorus frog
Pseudacris illinoensis (Smith, 1951) Illinois chorus frog
Pseudacris kalmi (Harper, 1955) New Jersey chorus frog
Pseudacris maculata (Agassiz, 1850) boreal chorus frog
Pseudacris nigrita (Le Conte, 1825) southern chorus frog
Pseudacris ocularis (Bosc & Daudin, 1801) little grass frog
Pseudacris ornata (Holbrook, 1836) ornate chorus frog
Pseudacris regilla (Baird & Girard, 1852) Pacific tree frog
Pseudacris sierra (Wright & Wright, 1933) Sierran chorus frog
Pseudacris streckeri (Jameson, Mackey, and Richmond, 1966) Strecker's chorus frog
Pseudacris triseriata (Wied-Neuwied, 1838) western chorus frog or striped chorus frog

Home

Chorus frogs live anywhere in North America from southern Alaska to southern Baja California, and from the Pacific to the Atlantic.[2]

References

  1. Dodd, C. Kenneth (2013). Frogs of the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-4214-0633-6.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Pseudacris Fitzinger, 1843 | Amphibian Species of the World". research.amnh.org. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  3. Frost, Darrel R. (2015). "Pseudacris Fitzinger, 1843". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  4. "AmphibiaWeb -- Search Results". amphibiaweb.org. Retrieved 2021-03-25.

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