The Breeding Habits of Pseudacris brachyphona (Cope) with a Description of the Eggs and Tadpole

Abstract

T HE mountain chorus frog, Pseudacris brachyphona, was first described by Cope in 1889 as a variety of Chorophilus feriarum. No further attention was paid to it until 1932 when Walker (1932: 379) removed it from its obscure position and established it as a valid species. Netting (1933: 4) records it from five counties in West Virginia; Walker (1932: 381) gives the measurements of three West Virginia specimens from the Carnegie Museum; Wright and Wright (1933: 84) record it from the extreme southern part of West Virginia. Despite the fact that Pseudacris brachyphona is fairly common throughout the central and southern part of West Virginia, where it has been collected between altitudes of 1200 feet and 3500 feet, little seems to be known about its life history and breeding habits. Walker (1932: 383) gives a brief description of the eggs and of the situations in which they are laid. Wright and Wright (1933: 85) state that the tadpole has not been described, and that there are no data on transformation. During the spring months of 1936 and 1937 the author had an opportunity to observe the breeding habits of this frog as well as to collect the eggs and tadpoles at various stages. Most of the observations were made in the vicinity of Elkins, Randolph County, and in Tucker County, lying to the east of Randolph; other specimens were collected and notes were taken in Barbour, Upshur, Braxton and Pocahontas counties, all in West Virginia. The preserved material on which the paper is based is in the author's private collection. In central West Virginia Pseudacris brachyphona begins calling about the first of April. It is the third frog voice to be heard in the spring in Randolph County. Hyla crucifer and Rana sylvatica have been calling for two to four weeks before it emerges. The males appear two to four days before the females and congregate in temporary pools and drainage ditches from which they call lustily. They line the edges of the pools, stationing themselves either in or out of the water. Most of the males collected were in the water with their backs to the edge of the pool. Those taken from the bank were facing the pool and a short distance from it. They collected on mats of algae or other vegetation or floated with legs outstretched. They showed a decided preference for shallow and slow-moving or quiet bodies of water and no specimens were seen near permanent bodies of water. On one occasion several individuals were found calling from water-filled furrows of a freshly ploughed field. They make no effort to conceal themselves in the stubble or rubbish around the pools as does Hyla crucifer. Frequently there were fifteen or twenty males around the edge of a pool five feet in diameter. Along ditches there were often three or four males every two feet. The males were more plentiful than the females; the ratio of sexes seen and collected was about six to one.