Where’s Wildlife · Frog & Toad Field Guide
Acris crepitans
Pronounced (approx.): AY-kris KREP-ih-tanz
A tiny, rough-skinned shoreline frog that makes surprisingly long leaps.
Cricket Frog. Select the photo to browse the gallery.
NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICA
Lengths are snout to vent; season and activity vary with weather and location.
Small body with a granular or warty back
Dark triangular marking between the eyes
Long hind legs and webbed feet without large climbing discs
Compare views, markings and body shapes in the photographs below.
Scan the water’s edge for small frogs making quick, long jumps. Compare the rough skin, head triangle and hind-leg pattern; a green or reddish back stripe may be present but is variable.
Blanchard’s Cricket Frog (Acris blanchardi) was formerly included in A. crepitans and is the species recognized in Illinois and Wisconsin. This page retains its existing label pending a locality-based review. The quiz asks for Cricket Frog, not a distinction between these close relatives.
Open muddy or gravelly margins of ponds, streams and wetlands. Adults feed on small insects and other arthropods. Often active by day along shorelines.
Cricket frogs forage near the ground and water rather than living high in trees. Males give repeated clicking calls during breeding. Eggs and tadpoles develop in water before the young take up shoreline life.
Family membership does not mean every species climbs trees.
The call suggests small stones tapped together.
Recording the exact location helps interpret changing species boundaries.
Modern Acris crepitans is an eastern U.S. species. Older maps may combine it with Blanchard’s Cricket Frog farther west. The two photo localities need checking before narrowing the identification. Observation maps show reported encounters, not the entire range.
Explore reported sightings on iNaturalist. Observation records are not a complete range map.