Many mountain chorus frogs die while in the egg or tadpole stage, only 15 percent reaching adulthood. If they reach sexual maturity, the mortality rate for these frogs is decreased to nearly half of that for juveniles. Average lifespan is approximately 5 years for those that reach adulthood, with some reaching 7 years.
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 7 (high) years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 5 years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 5 years.
As tadpoles, mountain chorus frogs are preyed on by a wide range of potential predators near breeding pools, including fish, predatory insects, and other frogs. As they mature, predators are limited to larger frogs and snakes. American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) are known predators. Their only known anti-predation adaptation would be using the coloration of their skin as camouflage.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic
Mountain chorus frogs are relatively small frogs. Although, the average mass could not be found, adult male total body length ranges from 26 to 30 mm and adult females from 28 to 34 mm. Coloring varies among individuals, but most are light brown with stripes or spots of varying shades of brown along their backs. They tend to have a stripe that starts along their snouts and runs across their eyes and back, blending into their dorsal patterning. Their legs are usually yellow and their throats can be between yellow and black (males) or white (females). Coloration also varies with age.
Range length: 26 to 34 mm.
Average length: 28 mm.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: female larger; sexes colored or patterned differently
Mountain chorus frogs generally only communicate with other individuals during the breeding season. Males use a call that is specific to their species in order to attract mates. The call has been described as distinct high-pitched chirps that are slightly shrill. The succession of their calls is rapid, occurring at a rate of 50 to 70 times a minute but lasts no more than 20 seconds. It is not known if P. brachyphona uses any other means of communication.
Communication Channels: acoustic
Other Communication Modes: choruses
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Mountain chorus frogs live mostly in higher elevations throughout Appalachia and have been discovered at elevations as high as 1050 meters. During their mating season, their most common habitats are small grassy vernal ponds or temporary rainwater pools. After the mating season, they travel to higher elevations and drier land. Eggs and tadpoles live in breeding pools until they undergo metamorphosis. When tadpoles morph into adults they also choose upland habitats.
Range elevation: 1050 (high) m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; mountains
Aquatic Biomes: lakes and ponds; temporary pools
Pseudacris brachyphona, the mountain chorus frog, is found in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America. They can be found from northwestern Pennsylvania to central Alabama.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Mountain chorus frogs rely mostly on insects as a food source. They eat beetles, which make up about 45 percent of their diet. Other prey items include spiders (25 percent), bugs (13 percent), ants, leafhoppers, fliescentipedes, earthworms, and butterfly and moth larvae makes up the other 17 percent.
Animal Foods: insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods; terrestrial worms
Primary Diet: carnivore (Insectivore , Eats non-insect arthropods, Vermivore)
Mountain chorus frogs help control the populations of some species of insects found throughout their range as they prey on them. They are also prey to other frogs. Although parasite loads for this species is unknown, nematodes and trematodes have been found inside other species in the genus Pseudacris.
Commensal/Parasitic Species:
Mountain chorus frogs feed on insects and help control pests.
Positive Impacts: controls pest population
There are no known adverse effects of mountain chorus frogs on humans.
Mountain chorus frogs goes through the process of metamorphosis during their life cycle. Shortly after mating, females lay their eggs in clutches near the water’s edge in the breeding pond. Hatching occurs 6 to 10 days after the eggs are laid. The fully aquatic, gilled tadpoles live in the pond. During this period of growth, which lasts 50 to 60 days, tadpoles grow in size and start to develop hind legs. The frog’s legs bud when the tadpole is approximately 19 mm long. As the legs grow, the tail of the tadpole decreases in size until it is completely gone. Once the frog’s legs have formed, the lungs gradually replace the gills as a means of respiration. Once the lungs are fully formed, the frogs move outside of the water only returning to water to mate.
Development - Life Cycle: metamorphosis
Mountain chorus frogs are listed as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List and are not mentioned on any of the other conservation lists. They are not currently considered to be in danger of extinction.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Mountain chorus frogs begin their breeding season from early spring (around February) into late spring (June). During this time, males and females can mate multiple times but females generally only produce one clutch of eggs. Males begin the mating season by locating small breeding ponds. Once they find a suitable habitat they begin calling; this is the main way the males attract females. Females arrive at these pools and are greeted by males who grasp onto their backs to begin the mating ritual. After mating, males try to attract other females for mating. After breeding, females and males return to their terrestrial, forested habitats.
Mating System: polygynandrous (promiscuous)
Mountain chorus frogs breed once a year from late winter to early summer. Females lay their eggs in small clutches of 10 to 50 individual eggs. They lay multiple clutches, adding up to around 300 offspring that begin to hatch 5 to 7 days after they are laid.
Breeding interval: Mountain chorus frogs breed once a year
Breeding season: Breeding occurs from early to late spring.
Range number of offspring: 150 to 500.
Average number of offspring: 300.
Range time to hatching: 4 to 10 days.
Average time to hatching: 5-7 days.
Average time to independence: 0 minutes.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); oviparous
There is little parental care given to the offspring of Pseudacris brachyphona. After mating, males and females return to dry forested habitats.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female)
The Appalachian mountain chorus frog (Pseudacris brachyphona),[3] formerly known as just the mountain chorus frog, is a species of frog in the family Hylidae. The species is endemic to the United States. The natural habitats of P. brachyphona are temperate forests, rivers, intermittent rivers, swamps, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, freshwater springs, ponds, open excavations, and canals and ditches. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The Collinses' mountain chorus frog (Pseudacris collinsorum), which ranges from southwestern North Carolina/southeastern Tennessee south to most of Alabama aside from the north and west to northeastern Mississippi, was formerly thought to represent a population of P. brachyphona, but was described as a distinct species in 2020. The description of this species led P. brachyphona to be renamed the Appalachian mountain chorus frog.[3]
Mountain chorus frogs are part of the family Hylidae, also known as the tree frogs. Tree frogs are one of the largest families in the order Salientia (also called Anura). Because they are so colorful and have many acrobatic talents, they have been called the "clowns and high-wire artists" of the amphibian world. The almost 500 species of tree frogs are found all over the world, from tropical regions to the Canadian woods, and Australia. They are found in places where toads are usually found.
The Appalachian mountain chorus frog is a small frog, but an intermediate size for the genus Pseudacris. It is colored different shades of grey or brown, including sorghum brown, deep brownish-drab, or mars brown. It is stocky in the body and broader in the head, which is very close to the structure and size of H. femoralis, the pine woods tree frog. The adult frog grows from 1.0 to 1.4 in (25 to 36 mm) in head and body length. The males are usually between 24 and 32 millimetres (0.94 and 1.26 in) and the females between 27 and 34 millimetres (1.1 and 1.3 in). The Appalachian mountain chorus frog has a triangle between the eyes and a white line on the upper lip; the male has a dark throat.
The Appalachian mountain chorus frog can usually be found on the hillsides of southwestern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, southeastern Ohio, eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and northern Alabama north of the Tennessee River. They live on springy hillsides, grassy pools, and ditches, typically distant from water. The wooded hillsides where the frogs live are up to 3,500 feet (1,100 m) in elevation.
The Appalachian mountain chorus frog has a unique call. It is a faster, higher note, and holds a distinct quality and form. The repetitions are quicker and the pitch higher. It resembles the call of the Pacific chorus frog rather closely but is less clearly two syllabled. When a whole chorus of them are heard, one can tell them apart from other groups. The Appalachian mountain chorus frog's call has a rate of 50 to 70 times a minute and can be continued for several minutes, though they usually stop in 15 to 20 seconds. This distinct call is rapid and can be heard on a clear night up to a quarter mile away.[4] Their voice has a bit of a nasal quality to it and sounds like a wagon wheel turning that needs oil. It is a harsh, raspy "wreeck" or "reek" sound.[5] The Collinses' mountain chorus frog has a similar call but with a faster pulse rate.[3]
The Appalachian mountain chorus frog breeds in February through April. The female lays eggs in small, shallow bodies of water in the woods or waterways near the woods. If the frog lives near the base of a hill, it will lay eggs in ditches, pools along streams, or springs. The eggs are laid in groups of 10 to 50. They attach to vegetation and total about 500 eggs. The tadpole stage lasts for about 50 to 56 days. Once the tadpoles reach 8 mm, they metamorphose into frogs.
Appalachian mountain chorus frogs feed on invertebrates, such as insects, because they do not climb much, and if they do, it is into the weeds to pursue insects.
The Appalachian mountain chorus frog (Pseudacris brachyphona), formerly known as just the mountain chorus frog, is a species of frog in the family Hylidae. The species is endemic to the United States. The natural habitats of P. brachyphona are temperate forests, rivers, intermittent rivers, swamps, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, freshwater springs, ponds, open excavations, and canals and ditches. It is threatened by habitat loss.
