Strecker's Chorus Frog

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Kansas Herpetofaunal Atlas

Sponsored by The Center for North American Herpetology

Strecker's Chorus Frog

Pseudacris streckeri Wright and Wright, 1933

Overview

The Strecker's Chorus Frog is the largest chorus frog in Kansas. The Strecker's Chorus Frog is characterized by moist skin, a round snout, a light line along the upper lips, dark spots irregularly scattered on the back and sides, sometimes forming two elongate dark bars on the back, and a dark spot below and just in front of each eye. The short head, squat body, and thick limbs are brown, gray, green, or hazel. The spots and bars on the back are dark brown or black. A dark stripe passes through the eyes on each side of the head and curves down onto the shoulder. A dark triangular or V-shaped marking may or may not be present between the eyes. The belly is light-colored. Females normally grow larger than males, and males have a dark throat during the breeding season. All other chorus frogs in Kansas possess a continuous light line along the upper lip. The ground color of a cold specimen is much darker and may approach the color of the spots. The ground color will lighten appreciably as the frog warms up.
Adults normally 25- 41 mm (1-15⁄8 inches) in snout-vent length (SVL). The largest Kansas specimen is a male (KU 195621) from Harper County with SVL of 38 mm (1½ inches) collected by Suzanne L. Collins, Joseph T. Collins, and Larry Miller on 7 April 1984. This is the maximum length across the species' range (Conant and Collins, 1998).

Distribution

They can be found in south-central Kansas through Oklahoma and into eastern Texas, east into western Louisiana, and west-central Arkansas along the Arkansas River. Other disjunct populations occur in west-central and southwest Illinois, southeastern Missouri, and northeastern Arkansas. In Kansas, it is known from south-central Kansas from southeast Pratt County and southwest Kingman County, south into Oklahoma. It is particularly abundant in areas with sandy soils.

Reproduction

The fossorial Strecker's Chorus Frog is nocturnal, spending the day burrowed in the soil or under vegetation. Unlike most burrowing frogs, which burrow into the loose substrate using their hind legs, the Strecker's Chorus Frog burrows with its forelimbs and enters headfirst.
They can be found in a variety of habitats, including open woodlands and rocky ravines, with a preference for sand prairie fields in Kansas.
Gray (1982) and Gray and Stegall (1986) investigated this frog in southcentral Kansas, and the first available information on the species in Kansas was based on their observations.
Although Strecker's Chorus Frog is found in a wide variety of habitats, it primarily inhabits open areas such as sand prairies and cultivated fields, as well as the ditches, streams, marshes, and pools that border these areas. It may be active year-round when the weather is favorable. Stegall (1977) first reported this frog from Kansas. He obtained two examples from Harper County on 30 April. Gray (1982) reported the first specimen of Strecker's Chorus Frog from Barber County.
It emerges following early spring rains and moves to flooded fields, ditches, small ponds, and vernal pools to breed. The call of the Strecker's Chorus Frog is a series of clear, high-pitched single-note whistles. A large chorus of Strecker's Chorus Frogs has been described as "a rapidly turning pulley wheel badly in need of greasing." Strecker's Chorus Frogs breed opportunistically during rains from late February to May at temperatures of 35-70°F, and may call at night or during the day depending on temperature. Stegall (1977) found breeding choruses of this frog around a small pond on 23 and 30 April in Harper County. Rundquist et al. (1978) recorded a chorus at a pond in the same county on 13 May at 2300 hours with an air temperature of 68°F. Gray (1982) and Gray and Stegall (1986) reported choruses of this amphibian in Harper County on 21 February, 16 March, 3 April, 5 and 6 April, and 13 April, and found that they ceased calling when temperatures dropped near 40°F. Larry Miller, Suzanne L. Collins, and I heard a chorus of thousands of these frogs in the same county on the evening of 7 April 1984. Miller (pers. comm., 1984) also heard choruses of this frog in Harper County on 30 May at an air temperature of 75°F following heavy rainfall. Miller (1987) found two examples of this frog in Harper County on 23 May; both were young frogs, taken beneath boards in sandy soil after heavy rains. Apparently, this frog prefers breeding sites with unpolluted water, an absence of fish predators, and the presence of some vascular water plants. Males chorus to attract females to aquatic situations for breeding. The eggs are laid in clumps of two to one hundred and are attached to aquatic plants and twigs. A female may lay up to 700 eggs in as many as 75 clumps. The eggs probably hatch within a week, and the tadpoles metamorphose during the summer. Deposited eggs and amplexing pairs of this frog were observed on 16 March in Harper County.
Breeding occurs in ephemeral depressions (wallows, ditches, cultivated fields, tire ruts, etc.) during March and April following sufficient precipitation. Miller (2004) found about a dozen calling by day from a small shallow pond in Harper County on 22 April 2004 at an air temperature of 56 deg. That night, they heard hundreds calling from roadside ditches, shallow pasture pools, and agricultural fields in southeastern Barber and southwestern Harper counties.
The eggs are attached to vegetation and hatch within a few days. The tadpoles transform within two months.
Transformed Strecker's Chorus Frogs actively forage on humid nights. They eat small insects and other arthropods. Nothing is known of the food preferences of the Strecker's Chorus Frog in Kansas. It undoubtedly feeds on small insects.

Remarks

First reported from the state by Stegall (1977) from a locality 2 kilometers west and 9 kilometers south of Anthony, in Harper County, on 23 April 1977. The earliest existing specimens (KU 174370-1) were those mentioned in Stegall (1977) and collected by Eddie Stegall, David Grow, Ed Byrne, and Peter Gray. Gray (1982) discovered several new localities for this taxon and contributed much-needed information on its chorusing and breeding activity. Miller (1987) reported discovering two young specimens under boards on sandy soil following heavy rain in Harper County.
Listed as a Kansas Endangered species in 1978. Collins (1980) reported on the precarious status of this amphibian in Kansas and suggested that it be designated a Kansas endangered species due to its presence in limited vulnerable habitat in the state. Gray (1982) and Gray and Stegall (1986) agreed and urged continued monitoring of this species to prevent its extirpation.
While running his Kansas Anuran Monitoring Program (KAMP) route in southeastern Pratt County, Nate Davis discovered a chorus of this species near the Isabel Wetland Wildlife Area on 25 March 2004. The following evening, Travis W. Taggart secured a voucher from several males calling in the water-filled depression of a wheat field in the wildlife area (Davis and Taggart, 2004). The water covered approximately two hectares and reached a maximum depth of 0.5 meters. Other frogs observed in the same pool were Spea bombifrons, Bufo woodhousii, and Pseudacris maculata. The latter two species were also chorusing.
Following the initial discovery in Pratt County, an attempt was made to determine the limits of this isolated population by systematically driving nearby roads and listening for calls. All observations from that effort were made in sand prairie habitat in Pratt County and adjacent Barber and Kingman counties (Davis et al., 2004). Annual attempts to fill in the gaps and extend the range are ongoing (T. W. Taggart, pers. comm.).
The discovery of this northern population extended the range of this taxon another 30 miles into the state and does much to bolster and secure its status. Where it occurs, its distinctive call can be expected for a few weeks in late winter to early spring. Surveys of additional sand prairies (particularly north of US 54 in Pratt County) may reveal additional populations. Recent (2017) surveys by Jeff Seim, Zachary Cordes, and Daren Riedle (KDWPT) have added significant observations and partially bridged the gap. Surveys in 2018 and 2019 by Travis W. Taggart have since demonstrated that the two populations are connected.
No recovery plan exists for this species. As defined by Kansas Administrative Regulations, critical habitats include those areas documented as currently supporting self-sustaining population(s) of any threatened or endangered species of wildlife, as well as those areas determined by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism to be essential for the conservation of any threatened or endangered species of wildlife.
Due to the intermittency of the individual breeding pools used by Strecker's Chorus Frogs, specific site designations for critical habitats are not made; however, whenever and wherever they occur, all wetlands and rainwater basins and pools within those portions of Barber and Harper counties located south of U.S. Highway 160, east of U.S. Highway 281, and west of a north-south line beginning at the NE corner of Section 26, T32S, R7W, Harper County and extending due south to the Kansas-Oklahoma border are considered critical habitats. The northern population inhabits wetlands, permanent and intermittent, in sand prairie habitat in Pratt, Barber, and Kingman counties.

References

Wright, Anna Allen, and Alex Hazen Wright. 1933. Handbook of frogs and toads. The frogs and toads of the United States and Canada. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, NY. xi+231 pp.

Smith, Hobart M. 1950. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of Kansas. University of Kansas, Museum of Natural History, Miscellaneous Publication (2):336.

Bellis, Edward D. 1953. The effects of temperature on the breeding calls of some Oklahoma Salientians. Thesis. University of Oklahoma, Norman.

Bellis, Edward D. 1957. The effects of temperature on salientian breeding calls. Copeia 1957(2):85-89.

Smith, Philip W. 1966. Pseudacris streckeri. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (27):1-2.

Collins, Joseph T. 1974. Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Public Education Series (1):283 pp.

Stegall, Eddie. 1977. First Strecker's Chorus Frog collected in Kansas. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (21):11-13.

Clarke, Robert F. 1977. A note from the president. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (22):1.

Rundquist, Eric M., Eddie Stegall, David Grow, and Peter Gray. 1978. New herpetological records from Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science (81):73-77.

Gray, Peter. 1978. Geographical distribution: Pseudacris streckeri streckeri. Herpetological Review 9:21-22.

Collins, Joseph T. 1979. New records of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles in Kansas for 1978. Technical Publication of the State Biological Survey of Kansas 8:56-66.

Gray, Peter. 1982. Distribution and Status of Strecker's Chorus Frog (Pseudacris streckeri streckeri) in south-central Kansas. Contract #48. Kansas Fish and Game Commission, Pratt. 23 pp.

Collins, Joseph T. 1982. Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas. 2nd edition. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Public Education Series (8).

Collins, Joseph T. 1983. New records of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles in Kansas for 1982 . Technical Publication of the State Biological Survey of Kansas 13:9-21.

Secor, Stephen M. and Charles C. Carpenter. 1984. Distribution maps of Oklahoma reptiles. Oklahoma Herpetological Society Special Publication (3):1-57.

Layher, William G., Ken L. Brunson, J.Schaefer, Marvin D. Schwilling, and R. D. Wood. 1986. Summary of nongame task force actions relative to developing three species lists: Species in Need of Conservation, Threatened, and Endangered. Kansas Fish and Game Commission, Pratt. 27 pp.

Gray, Peter and Eddie Stegall. 1986. Distribution and status of Strecker's Chorus Frog (Pseudacris streckeri streckeri) in Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 89:81-85.

Miller, Larry L. 1987. An investigation of four rare snakes in south-central Kansas. Final Report. Kansas Wildlife and Parks Commission, Pratt. 24 pp.

Busby, William H. 1988. The Kansas Natural Heritage Program: Taking stock of Kansas' natural heritage. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (71):9-12.

Miller, Larry L. 1988. Harper County KHS field trip well attended. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (72):5-6.

Simmons, John E. 1989. Endangered and threatened in Kansas. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (75):4-5.

Lardie, Richard L. 1990. Kansas threatened species and protection of the Gypsum Hills habitat. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (80):14-15.

Collins, Joseph T. 1990. Maximum size records for Kansas amphibians and reptiles. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (81):13-17.

Conant, Roger and Joseph T. Collins. 1991. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts.

Collins, Joseph T. 1991. New records of amphibians and reptiles in Kansas for 1990. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (83):7-13.

Rundquist, Eric M. 1992. Kansas endangered, threatened, and SINC species. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (91).

Taggart, Travis W. 1992. KHS field trips. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (91):3.

Collins, Joseph T. and Suzanne L. Collins. 1993. Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas. Third Edition. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Lawrence. 397 pp.

Moriarty, Emily C. and Joseph T. Collins. 1995. First known occurrence of amphibian species in Kansas. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (100):28-30.

Rakestraw, J. 1996. Spring herp counts: A Kansas tradition. Reptile & Amphibian Magazine (March-April):75-80.

Shoup, J. Mark. 1996. Treefrogs, indeed! Kansas Wildlife and Parks 53(4):34.

Silva, da, Hlio Ricardo. 1997. Two character states new for Hylines and the taxonomy of the genus Pseudacris. Journal of Herpetology 31(4):609-613.

Conant, Roger and Joseph T. Collins. 1998. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. 3rd ed, expanded. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts.

Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. 1998. A Key to Amphibians & Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 131 pp.

Packard, Gary C., John K. Tucker, and Leslie D. Lohmiller. 1998. Distribution of Strecker's Chorus frogs (Pseudacris streckeri) in relation to their tolerance for freezing. Journal of Herpetology 32(3):437-440.

Rundquist, Eric M. 2000. Results of the eleventh and twelfth annual KHS herpetofaunal counts for 1999-2000, held 1 April-31 May. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (122):11-16.

Rundquist, Eric M. 2001. Results of the thirteenth annual KHS herp counts for 2001, held 1 April-30 June. Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter (125):13-16.

Kingsbury, Bruce and Joanna Gibson. 2002. Habitat Management Guidelines for Amphibians and Reptiles of the Midwest. Publication of Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Address not given. 152 pp.

Davis, Nate and Travis W. Taggart. 2004. Geographic distribution. Pseudacris streckeri. Journal of Kansas Herpetology (10):10.

Davis, Nate, Travis W. Taggart, and Curtis J. Schmidt. 2004. Geographic distribution, Pseudacris streckeri. Journal of Kansas Herpetology (10):10.

Miller, Larry L. 2004. Notes on Strecker's Chorus Frog activity in Kansas. Journal of Kansas Herpetology (10):13.

Lannoo, Michael (Editor). 2005. Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species. University fo California Press, Berkeley. 1115 pp.

Altig, Ronald, Roy W. McDiarmid, Kimberly A. Nichols, and Paul C. Ustach. 2006. Tadpoles of the United States and Canada: A Tutorial and Key. Electronic files accessible at http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/tadpole/. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD, USA. .

Taggart, Travis W. 2006. Distribution and status of Kansas herpetofauna in need of information. State Wildlife Grant T7. Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Pratt. vii + 106 pp.

Trauth, Joy B., Ronald L. Johnson, and Stanley E. Trauth. 2007. Conservation implications of a morphometric comparison between the Illinois Chorus Frog (Pseudacris streckeri illinoensis) and Strecker's Chorus Frog (P. s. streckeri) (Anura: Hylidae) from Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Zootaxa (1589):23-32.

Collins, Joseph T., Suzanne L. Collins, and Travis W. Taggart. 2010. Amphibians, Reptiles, and Turtles of Kansas. Eagle Mountain Publishing., Provo, Utah. 400 pp.

Taggart, Travis W. 2011. Kansas Herpetological Society 2011 spring field trip to be held in Chautauqua County. Journal of Kansas Herpetology (37):5-7.

Rohweder, Megan R. 2012. Spatial conservation prioritization of Kansas for terrestrial vertebrates. Thesis. Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas. 151 pp.

Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. 2012. Key to the Herpetofauna of the Continental United States and Canada: Second Edition, Revised and Updated. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 152 pp.

Dodd, C. Kenneth. 2013. Frogs of the United States and Canada. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. 982 pp.

Barrow, Lisa N., Hannah F. Ralicki, Sandra A. Emme, Emily Moriarty Lemmon. 2014. Species tree estimation of North American chorus frogs (Hylidae: Pseudacris) with parallel tagged amplicon sequencing. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 75:78-90.

Rohweder, Megan R. 2015. Kansas Wildlife Action Plan. Ecological Services Section, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism in cooperation with the Kansas Biological Survey. 176 pp.

Barrow, Lisa N., Alyssa T. Bigelow, Christopher A. Phillips, and Emily Moriarty Lemmon. 2015. Phylogeographic inference using Bayesian model comparison across a fragmented chorus frog species complex. Molecular Ecology 24(18):4739-4758.

Barrow, Lisa. 2016. Evolutionary insights from analyses of spatial genetic variation in North American frogs. Dissertation. Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. 186 pp.

Powell, Robert, Roger Conant, and Joseph T. Collins. 2016. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston. 494 pp.

Taggart, Travis W. and J. Daren Riedle. 2017. A Pocket Guide to Kansas Amphibians, Turtles and Lizards. Great Plains Nature Center, Wichita, Kansas. 69 pp.

Crother, Brian I. (editor). 2017. Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding. Eighth edition. Herpetological Circulars (43):1-102.

Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. 2019. Key to the Herpetofauna of the Continental United States and Canada. Third Edition. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 192 pp.

Daniel, Richard E. and Brian S. Edmond. 2020. Atlas of Missouri Amphibians and Reptiles for 2019. Privately printed, Columbia, Missouri. 86 pp.

Riedle, J. Daren. 2020. Revisiting Kansas Herpetological Society field trip and Herp Count data: Distributional patterns and trend data of Kansas amphibians and reptiles. Collinsorum 9(1):7-16.

Goldberg, Stephen R. 2020. Notes on reproduction of Strecker's Chorus Frog, Pseudacris streckeri (Anura: Hylidae), from Oklahoma. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society 55(3):61-63.

Banker, Sarah E., Alan R. Lemmon, Alyssa Bigelow Hassinger, Mysia Dye, Sean D. Holland, Michelle L. Kortyna, Oscar E. Ospina, Hannah Ralicki, and Emily Moriarty Lemmon. 2020. Hierarchical hybrid enrichment: Multitiered genomic data collection across evolutionary scales, with application to Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris). Systematic Biology 69(4):756-773.

Fischer, Annie. 2020. Species profile: Strecker's Chorus Frog. Kansas Wildlife and Parks Magazine March/April:44.

Taggart, Travis W. 2021. Herp Count: Harper County: KHS-2020-26. Collinsorum 9(3):15.

Ethier, Jeffery P., Aurore Fayard, Peter Soroye, Daeun Choi, Marc. J. Mazerolle, and Vance L. Trudeau. 2021. Life history traits and reproductive ecology of North American chorus frogs of the genus Pseudacris (Hylidae). Frontiers in Zoology 18(40):18.

Dodd, C. Kenneth. 2023. Frogs of the United States and Canada. Second Edition. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. 1032 pp.

Hofmeier, Jordan. 2025. For the future: Conserving Kansas' endangered wildlife. Kansas Wildlife & Parks Magazine 2025(November):17-23.

Last Updated: 06/04/2026 7:32:13 AM CT — Travis Taggart

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Tuesday 09 June 2026 13:05 CT