Common LA Frogs and Vocalizations
The following frog calls are intended to help Loyola herpetology students with their learning requirements, and for targeted species training for local citizen scientists who intend to volunteer in the Louisiana Amphibian Monitoring Program. Louisiana Master Naturalists are encouraged to learn them, too.
H = Herpetology Student Requirement
L = Louisiana Amphibian Monitoring Program Requirement (LS - for routes in St. Bernard & Plaquemines parishes; LN - for routes north of Lake Pontchartrain)
Bufonidae
Anaxyrus fowleri
H, LS, LN
North of Lake Pontchartrain; formerly south of Lake Pontchartrain
Photo Credit: Chuck B.
Hylidae
Acris gryllus
LS, LN
North of Lake Pontchartrain
This species has the same variation and color pattern seen in the Northern Cricket Frog.
Photo Credit: Rue McNeill
Dryophytes (Hyla) avivocus
H, LS, LN
South & North of Lake Pontchartrain
Photo Credit (above photo): Aimée K. Thomas
Dryophytes (Hyla) cinereus
H, LS, LN
South and North of Lake Pontchartrain
Photo Credit (second photo): James W. Beck
Dryophytes (Hyla) chrysoscelis
H, LS, LN
South & North of Lake Pontchartrain
This species has color variants.
The two species of gray treefrog can easily be differentiated by their vocalizations. They are impossible to separate on pattern.
Photo Credit (both photos): Jim Grice
Dryophytes (Hyla) versicolor
LS
Western Louisiana and isolated populations in and around Evangeline Parish.
The two species of gray treefrog can easily be differentiated by their vocalizations. They are impossible to separate on pattern.
Dryophytes (Hyla) squirellus
H, LS, LN
South & North of Lake Pontchartrain
This species is green when breeding, and shades of brown when otherwise active.
Osteopilus septentrionalis
H
Occasional specimens arrive on plants from Florida; the first breeding population occurred in the Fly behind Audubon Zoo (2017).
Photo Credit: D. Heckhard
Pseudacris regilla
When you hear frog sounds at night in a movie, it is normally this species because they occur around Hollywood.
Leptodactylidae
Eleutherodactylus cystignathoides
LN
Not yet in New Orleans; deinitely in Lafayette and Baton Rouge
Photo Credit: James W. Beck
Microhylidae
Scaphiopodidae
Ranidae
Lithobates palustris
LN
North of Lake Pontchartrain, but most common Alexandria & north
Photo Credit: Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife
Lithobates sevosus
LN
North of Lake Pontchartrain; not seen in Louisiana since 1976
