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Dryophytes gratiosus

(LeConte, 1856)

Barking Treefrog

G5Secure Found in 4 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
MediumThreat Impact
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.106453
Element CodeAAABC02100
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicendemic to a single nation
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassAmphibia
OrderAnura
FamilyHylidae
GenusDryophytes
Synonyms
Hyla gratiosaLeConte, 1856
Other Common Names
barking treefrog (EN)
Concept Reference
Frost, D. R. 1985. Amphibian species of the world. A taxonomic and geographical reference. Allen Press, Inc., and The Association of Systematics Collections, Lawrence, Kansas. v + 732 pp.
Taxonomic Comments
Duellman et al. (2016) restricted Hyla to Eurasia and North Africa and referred the North American and east Asian sister taxon of this group to Dryophytes. This taxonomy was accepted by Amphibian Species of the World and followed here. It is not followed by the Society for the Study of Amphibians And Reptiles (SSAR) with Crother (2017) stating, "acceptance of this taxonomy within the community is not clear at this point."

Faivovich et al. (2005) redelimited this monophyletic taxon to include only North American and Eurasian species. Hua et al. (2009) discussed relationships within the group. Fouquette and Dubois (2014) recognized a suite of subgenera based on genetic and morphological evidence, but pending a more thorough evidentiary review, Crother (2017) hesitates to employ this taxonomy.
Conservation Status
Review Date2002-04-01
Change Date2001-10-26
Edition Date2002-04-01
Edition AuthorsHammerson, G.
Threat ImpactMedium
Range Extent200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)
Range Extent Comments
Coastal Plain and some upland areas from North Carolina to southern Florida, west to Louisiana, including northern Mississippi (Keiser, 1992, Herpetol. Rev. 23:86); disjunct populations occur in Delaware and adjacent Maryland, southwestern Kentucky and adjacent Tennessee, and in southeastern Virginia; introduced and probably now extirpated in southern New Jersey (Conant and Collins 1991).
Occurrences Comments
Represented by many and/or large occurrences throughout most of the range.
Threat Impact Comments
In some areas (e.g., Virginia) threatened by the conversion of native pine habitat to high density monocultures of loblolly pine (Mitchell 1991). In Florida, habitat alteration and collecting for the pet trade are threats of unknown magnitude (Bartlett and Bartlett 1999).
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Sandy areas in pine savannas and in low wet woods and swamps (e.g., willow oak-blackgum, cypress swamps). When inactive during cold or dry season, burrows under tree roots, vegetation, or in soil; otherwise mostly arboreal and thus dependent on trees near water. Eggs and larvae develop in shallow water of ponds, swamps, and bayheads; in Virginia, breeding sites were temporary ponds dominated by graminoids, beneath open canopies (Mitchell 1991). Reproduction is more successful in semi-permanent ponds due to the absence of predatory fishes. In some areas, deep ponds, such as Carolina Bays and barrow pits, are preferred breeding sites.

Reproduction

Lays clutch of up to about 2000 eggs after heavy rains in spring or summer. Multiple clutches have been documented in Georgia (Perrill and Daniel 1983). Eggs hatch in several days. Aquatic larvae metamorphose into terrestrial form in about 1-2 months. Breeding aggregations generally do not exceed 20-25 males.
Terrestrial Habitats
Forest - HardwoodForest - ConiferForest - MixedWoodland - HardwoodWoodland - ConiferWoodland - MixedSavanna
Palustrine Habitats
TEMPORARY POOLSCRUB-SHRUB WETLANDFORESTED WETLANDRiparian
Other Nations (1)
United StatesN5
ProvinceRankNative
DelawareS1Yes
North CarolinaS4Yes
VirginiaS2Yes
TennesseeS3Yes
KentuckyS3Yes
MarylandS1Yes
FloridaS4Yes
South CarolinaS4Yes
New JerseySNANo
GeorgiaS5Yes
MississippiS4Yes
LouisianaS3Yes
AlabamaS5Yes
Threat Assessments
ThreatScopeSeverityTiming
2 - Agriculture & aquaculture——High (continuing)
2.2 - Wood & pulp plantations——High (continuing)
5 - Biological resource use——High (continuing)
5.1 - Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals——High (continuing)

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Roadless Areas (4)
Florida (3)
AreaForestAcres
Farles PrairieOcala National Forest1,901
Gum BayApalachicola National Forest11,645
SavannahApalachicola National Forest1,927
North Carolina (1)
AreaForestAcres
Pocosin AdditionCroatan National Forest286
References (16)
  1. Bartlett, R. D., and P. P. Bartlett. 1999b. A field guide to Florida reptiles and amphibians. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas. xvi + 278 pp.
  2. Behler, J. L., and F. W. King. 1979. The Audubon Society field guide to North American reptiles and amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 719 pp.
  3. 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.
  4. Caldwell, J.P. 1982. Hyla gratiosa. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. 298:1-2.
  5. Conant, R. 1975. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. Second Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. xvii + 429 pp.
  6. 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]
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. Fouquette Jr., M.J., and A. DuBois. 2014. A Checklist of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. Seventh Edition. Volume 1—Amphibians. Xlibris LLC, Bloomington, Indiana. 586 pp.
  10. Frost, D. R. 1985. Amphibian species of the world. A taxonomic and geographical reference. Allen Press, Inc., and The Association of Systematics Collections, Lawrence, Kansas. v + 732 pp.
  11. 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
  12. Hua, X., C.-z. Fu, J.-t. Li, A. Nieto-Montes de Oca, and J. J. Wiens. 2009. A revised phylogeny of Holarctic treefrogs (genus <i>Hyla</i>) based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences. Herpetologica 65:246-259.
  13. Martof, B. S., W. M. Palmer, J. R. Bailey, and J. R. Harrison, III. 1980. Amphibians and reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 264 pp.
  14. Mitchell, J. C. 1991. Amphibians and reptiles. Pages 411-76 in K. Terwilliger (coordinator). Virginia's Endangered Species: Proceedings of a Symposium. McDonald and Woodward Publishing Company, Blacksburg, Virginia.
  15. Mount, R. H. 1975. The reptiles and amphibians of Alabama. Auburn University Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn, Alabama. vii + 347 pp.
  16. Perrill, S. A., and R. E. Daniel. 1983. Multiple egg clutches in <i>Hyla regilla</i>, <i>H. cinerea</i>, and <i>H. gratiosa</i>. Copeia 1983:513-516.