Family Hylidae: New World Tree Frogs
Order Anura: Frogs And Toads
Description: This is a large, diverse (mainly tropical) family that includes treefrogs, chorus frogs, and cricket frogs in the Northeast. Most are fairly small, secretive animals that are difficult to detect when not chorusing. Many species (especially those in the genus Hyla) have enlarged adhesive pads on their fingers and toes that are used in climbing; others lack them and are entirely terrestrial. Breeding can take place in early spring through late summer, depending on the species (chorus frogs and peepers in early spring, cricket and tree frogs in early to late summer), and occurs in woodland ponds, ditches, marshes, swamps, flooded fields, and other shallow bodies of water. They forage on much the same items as do toads, though perhaps with a larger aquatic component to their diet.
Family Hylidae, New World Tree Frogs
Key Characteristics: Small with a pointed snout; warty-skinned; a dark triangle, pointed backwards, usually evident between the eyes.
Habitat: Can be found in virtually any wet habitat, but most common in open areas surrounding lakes, ponds, rivers, swamps, and marshes.
Habitat: Most common in large forested tracts. Avoids small isolated forest patches except when adjacent to a stream or other permanent source of water.
Habitat: They are most abundant in extensive tracts of wet forest, but can be found in oldfields, open marshes, and other habitats. They can often be found hopping through leaf litter or climbing in grass clumps or other vegetation, especially during rainy or wet weather.
Habitat: Found in marshes, prairies, agricultural fields, and other open habitats, and occasionally in woods and forested swamps. Essentially a prairie animal that is tolerant of agriculture and thrives in intensively-farmed landscapes.