Home/Species/ Upland Chorus Frog

Pseudacris feriarum

(Baird, 1854)

Upland Chorus Frog

G5Secure Found in 2 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →

G5SecureGlobal Rank

Least concernIUCN

LowThreat Impact

Identity

Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.806650

Element CodeAAABC05120

Record TypeSPECIES

ClassificationSpecies

Classification StatusStandard

Name CategoryVertebrate Animal

IUCNLeast concern

Endemicendemic to a single nation

KingdomAnimalia

PhylumCraniata

ClassAmphibia

OrderAnura

FamilyHylidae

GenusPseudacris

Synonyms

Pseudacris triseriata feriarum(Baird, 1854)

Concept Reference

Lemmon, E. M., A. R. Lemmon, J. T. Collins, J. A. Lee-Yaw, and D. C. Cannatella. 2007. Phylogeny-based delimitation of species boundaries and contact zones in the trilling chorus frogs (Pseudacris). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 44:1068-1082.

Taxonomic Comments

Anderson et al. (2023) described substantial intraspecific genetic structure across the range of this species and occasional hybridization with congeneric taxa at range boundaries (Nicholson 2025). See Moriarty and Cannatella (2004) for a molecular phylogeny of Pseudacris based on mtDNA data. Also see Lemmon et al. (2007) for phylogenetic relationships and geographic ranges.

Based on a re-analysis of previously published molecular data, Duellman et al. (2016) restricted the name Pseudacris to eastern and Rocky Mountain species, and allocated the western species, P. cadaverina, P. hypochondriaca, P. regilla, and P. sierra to the genus Hyliola. Based on genome-wide nDNA data, Banker et al. (2020) argued that Hyliola should not be recognized because (a) the genus Pseudacris already is a monophyletic taxon without the change, and (b) the geographic separation rationale cited by Duellman et al. (2016) is insufficient as the sole criterion for splitting a long recognized monophyletic clade, causing unnecessary taxonomic instability. Use of Hyliola has not gained any traction in the systematic community, presumably because of the small number of species involved (Nicholson 2025).

Conservation Status

Review Date2008-05-26

Change Date2002-07-09

Edition Date2008-05-26

Edition AuthorsHammerson, G.

Threat ImpactLow

Range Extent200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)

Number of Occurrences81 to >300

Range Extent Comments

Range includes the eastern United States and extends from Pennsylvania, Kentucky, southern Illinois, and southeastern Missouri to eastern Mississippi, southern Alabama, Georgia, and the Florida Panhandle (Lemmon et al. 2007).

Occurrences Comments

This species is represented by a large number of occurrences (subpopulations).

Threat Impact Comments

No major threats are known. Clear-cutting and urbanization probably impact local populations.

Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Habitat includes open and wooded areas such as meadows, moist forests, bottomland swamps, and the vicinity of ponds, bogs, and marshes; this is mainly an upland frog in the north, but it also inhabits lowlands in the south (Conant and Collins 1991). Breeding sites include shallow ponds, flooded woodlands and pastures, and rainwater pools in ditches, fields, and open woods; eggs adhere to sticks and grass (Mount 1975, Redmond and Scott 1996).

Palustrine Habitats

TEMPORARY POOLHERBACEOUS WETLANDRiparian

Other Nations (1)

United StatesN5

Province	Rank	Native
New Jersey	SU	Yes
Illinois	S4	Yes
Georgia	S5	Yes
Pennsylvania	S1	Yes
Kentucky	S5	Yes
Virginia	S5	Yes
West Virginia	S2	Yes
North Carolina	S5	Yes
Missouri	S4	Yes
Maryland	S3	Yes
Tennessee	S5	Yes
District of Columbia	S3	Yes
Alabama	S5	Yes
South Carolina	S5	Yes
Mississippi	S5	Yes
Florida	S2	Yes

Threat Assessments

Threat	Scope	Severity	Timing
1 - Residential & commercial development	—	—	High (continuing)
1.1 - Housing & urban areas	—	—	High (continuing)
1.2 - Commercial & industrial areas	—	—	High (continuing)
4 - Transportation & service corridors	—	—	High (continuing)
4.1 - Roads & railroads	—	—	High (continuing)
5 - Biological resource use	—	—	High (continuing)
5.3 - Logging & wood harvesting	—	—	High (continuing)

Roadless Areas (2)

Tennessee (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Stone Mountain	Cherokee National Forest	5,367

Virginia (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Three Ridges	George Washington National Forest	4,745

References (16)

Anderson, C. B., O. Ospina, P. Beerli, A. R. Lemmon, S. E. Banker, A. Bigelow Hassinger, M. Dye, M. L. Kortyna, and E. Moriarty Lemmon. 2023. The population genetics of speciation by cascade reinforcement. Ecology and Evolution 13(2):e9773.
Banker, S. E., A. R. Lemmon, A. B. Hassinger, S. D. Holland, M. L. Kortyna, O. E. Ospina, H. Ralicki, and E. M. Lemmon. 2020. Hierarchical hybrid enrichment: Multitiered genomic data collection across evolutionary scales, with application to Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris). Systematic Biology 69:756-773.
Blackburn, L., P. Nanjappa, and M. J. Lannoo. 2001. An Atlas of the Distribution of U.S. Amphibians. Copyright, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, USA.
Collins, J. T. 1990. Standard common and current scientific names for North American amphibians and reptiles. 3rd ed. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpetological Circular No. 19. 41 pp.
Conant, R. and J. T. Collins. 1991. A field guide to reptiles and amphibians: eastern and central North America. Third edition. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Massachusetts. 450 pp.
Crother, B. 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. 8th edition. SSAR Herpetological Circular 43:1-104. [Updates in SSAR North American Species Names Database at: https://ssarherps.org/cndb]
Duellman, W. E., A. B. Marion, and S. B. Hedges. 2016. Phylogenetics, classification, and biogeography of the treefrogs (Amphibia: Anura: Arboranae). Zootaxa 4104: 1–109.
Faivovich, J., C.F.B. Haddad, P.C.A. Garcia, D.R. Frost, J.A. Campbell and W.C. Wheeler. 2005. Systematic review of the frog family Hylidae, with special reference to Hylinae: Phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 294:1-240.
Frost, D.R. 2020. Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. Online: http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.html
Hulse, A. C., C. J. McCoy, and E. Censky. 2001. Amphibians and reptiles of Pennsylvania and the Northeast. Comstock Publishing Associates, Cornell University Press, Ithaca. 419 pp.
Lemmon, E.M., A.R. Lemmon, J.T. Collins, and D.C. Cannatella. 2008. A new North American chorus frog species (Pseudacris: Hylidae: Amphibia) from the south-central United States. Zootaxa 1675:1-30.
Lemmon, E. M., A. R. Lemmon, J. T. Collins, J. A. Lee-Yaw, and D. C. Cannatella. 2007. Phylogeny-based delimitation of species boundaries and contact zones in the trilling chorus frogs (Pseudacris). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 44:1068-1082.
Moriarty, E. C., and D. C. Cannatella. 2004. Phylogenetic relationships of the North American chorus frogs (Pseudacris: Hylidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 30:409-420.
Mount, R. H. 1975. The reptiles and amphibians of Alabama. Auburn University Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn, Alabama. vii + 347 pp.
Nicholson, K. E. (ed.). 2025. Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding. Ninth Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 87 pp. Online database available at: https://cnah.org/SSARnames.aspx
Redmond, W. H., and A. F. Scott. 1996. Atlas of amphibians in Tennessee. The Center for Field Biology, Austin Peay State University, Miscellaneous Publication Number 12. v + 94 pp.

Pseudacris feriarum

Habitat

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