snake road hike Feb. 22nd

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kayfabe
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Location: S. Illinois

snake road hike Feb. 22nd

Post by kayfabe »

Posted another days adventure in the main forum
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10315

totals for the day
Zig-Zag salamanders - 10
Central newt - 1 (LIFER!!)
Cave salamander - 11
Green frog - 6
Bronze frog - 4
N. Cricket frog - 2
S. Leopard frog - 5
W. Cottonmouth - 1

What a day!!!
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peterknuteberg
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Re: snake road hike Feb. 22nd

Post by peterknuteberg »

Man on Fire!
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narumk07
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Re: snake road hike Feb. 22nd

Post by narumk07 »

I thought bronze frogs and green frogs were the same species?
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kayfabe
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Re: snake road hike Feb. 22nd

Post by kayfabe »

narumk07 wrote:I thought bronze frogs and green frogs were the same species?
I believe Bronze frogs are now considered to be a sub-species Lithobates c. clamitans of the Green frog Lithobates clamitans
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justinm
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Re: snake road hike Feb. 22nd

Post by justinm »

You're both right, it just depends on your philosophy towards splitting and lumping. I flip flop, and call green frogs that are bronze a bronze frog. I think we all know what the species is though.
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kayfabe
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Re: snake road hike Feb. 22nd

Post by kayfabe »

justinm wrote:You're both right, it just depends on your philosophy towards splitting and lumping. I flip flop, and call green frogs that are bronze a bronze frog. I think we all know what the species is though.
I did notice a very distinct difference in the colors when you find them next to each other, especially on the spotting of the backs. It seems that the greener frogs here have extremely mottled backs where it is hard to even make out the spotting. The "bronze"er frogs seem to have distinct spotting and some have very pronounced greening on the lips. Just my observations though. In my records I tried to make a distinction between the bronze ones and the green ones. I never really noticed this difference before as most of my field experience came out of Champaign/Iroguois county where they are commonly mistaken for bullfrogs if you can only see the head poking out. I'm not even going to try on the Cricket frogs LOL! Here is a prime example of what I found under a rock. The top one went into my records as a "bronze" frog and the bottom as a "green" frog...
Image
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