Description
The upper surface is reddish brown to grayish green, usually with dark blotches. Sometimes a dark band extends from the snout through the eye and eardrum. The rear surface of the thighs has orange to silver spots or blotches. The toe tips are expanded into rounded pads. Maximum size is around 1.8 inches (4.5 cm) snout-vent length. Breeding male have a dark throat. Breeding calls consist of a raspy, staccato series reminiscent of Morse Code or a cicada. Larvae are brownish red to dark green and have a strongly arched tail fin that is often tinged red, with dark blotches along the edges, and ending (if not damaged) in a slender filament. Larvae are up to about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) in total length. Eggs are deposited in loose masses of usually 100-250 eggs.
Habitat
Pine woods treefrogs inhabit longleaf pine-wiregrass flatwoods and savannas and longleaf pine-turkey oak sandhills, usually near bogs or ponds. Occasionally they occur in hardwood forests and swamps. Activity is mostly arboreal, with perch sites ranging from low shrubs to high tree tops. frogs may hide under or in rotting logs, stumps, or snags during dry or cold weather. Eggs and larvae develop in flooded ditches and transient pools and ponds, occasionally in cypress swamps.
Reproduction
Breeding occurs mainly in spring but may extend through summer, during warm wet weather. Females attach batches of about 100-250 eggs to submerged vegetation at or near the water's surface. Aquatic larvae hatch within as liittle as a few days and metamorphose into the terrestrial form in about 7-10 weeks.