Streckers Chorus Frog
Pseudacris streckeri
1978, Listed as Threatened, No recovery plan
Th Streckers chorus frog distinguishes itself as a species from other choral frogs, in both marking and burrowing characteristics. Typically, this frog only grows no larger than one and a half inches long, with forearms, fingers, and skin texture more closely related to that of the toad family of amphibians. Unlike its cousins, this species lacks the continuous black marking across its upper lip. Though it is olive-green in color with spotting along it’s backbone, it has a distinct white belly with a yellow-orange groin, that is unlike its closest relatives. The purpose of the stout forearms is to burrow head-first, approximately six inches beneath the surface, where it spends the majority of life. These burrows are found in a variety of aquatic environments along the Arkansas river valley, extending from Kansas to Louisiana, and include marsh and swamp environments as well as grassy pools only briefly filled with fresh water, in mountainous terrains. Emergence from these protective burrows is almost exclusively procreative between the months of November and March. Nocturnal in nature, only the males begin to sing a pattern that set into pattern by a few and echoed into choral union by all, in an effort to lure female attention. These females will lay several hundred eggs on vegetation just beneath the waters surface where they are then fertilized by the vocal males and left alone to develop over a couple of months until maturity.
The vulnerability of this species in Kansas is that they lack specific breeding grounds from year to year, limiting environmental protection to only four southern counties within the state. Many of the breeding environments exist as run-off pools in areas where land development and logging are having an impact on necessary drainage into the essential habitats for these frogs. As is always a conscience effort to address in species conservation, personal efforts to reduce the use of chemical pollutants that may concentrate in such drainage areas has a positive impact on this aquatic species. The Kansas Sierra Club is a nonprofit member supported public interest organization that promotes conservation of the natural Kansas environment. Supporting a group like this through volunteer work or donations can help the survival of all species in the state.