THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Anura    Hylidae  

Southern Chorus Frog
Pseudacris nigrita (LeConte, 1825)
SOO-day-kriss — NIGH-gree-tah

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

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Occurrences:; 2,908 Total; 2,698 Museum; 210 Other
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Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH. - (Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.10.09.45.16)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.32 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Alabama Florida Georgia Louisiana Mississippi North Carolina South Carolina Virginia

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its dark coloration.
Pseudacris — From Greek pseudes (ψευδής), “false,” and akris (ἀκρίς), “locust.” Likely refers to their insect-like trilling calls—“false locusts.”
nigrita — From Latin nigritus, meaning “blackened” or “darkened,” in reference to its typically dark dorsal coloration, especially compared to congeners.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Black Tree Frog (Chorophilus nigritus: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Black-spotted Tree Frog (Pseudacris nigrita nigrita: 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+231pp.); Rough Chorus Frog (Pseudacris nigrita nigrita: 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+231pp.); Striped Tree-frog (Pseudacris nigrita nigrita: 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+231pp.); Swamp Chorus Frog (Pseudacris nigrita nigrita: 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+231pp.); Black Swamp Frog (Pseudacris nigrita nigrita: 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+231pp.); Swamp Tree-toad (Pseudacris nigrita nigrita: 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+231pp.); Swamp Cricket Frog (Pseudacris nigrita nigrita: 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+231pp.); Swamp Tree Frog (Pseudacris nigrita nigrita: 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+231pp.); Black Tree Frog (Pseudacris nigrita nigrita: 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+231pp.); Swamp Tree Frog (Pseudacris nigrita: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Chorus Frog (Pseudacris nigrita: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Southern Chorus Frog (Pseudacris nigrita nigrita: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Florida Chorus Frog (Pseudacris nigrita verrucosa: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
Amphibian Species of the World
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1825 LeConte, John E. Remarks on the American species of the genera Hyla and Rana. Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York 1(2):278-282
1923 Noble, G. Kingsley. The generic and genetic relations of Pseudacris, the swamp tree frogs. American Museum Novitates (70):1-6
1953 Mittleman, M. Budd and J. C. List. The generic differentiation of the swamp treefrogs. Copeia 1953(2):80-83
1958 Blair, W. Frank. Mating call in the speciation of anuran amphibians. The American Naturalist 92(862):27-51
1959 Crenshaw, Jown W., Jr., and W. Frank Blair. Relationships in the Pseudacris nigrita complex in southwestern Georgia. Copeia 1959(3):215-222
1988 Gates, W. R. Pseudacris nigrita (Le Conte). Southern Chorus Frog. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (416):1–3
2004 Moriarty, Emily C. and David C. Cannatella. Phylogenetic relationships of the North American Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris: Hylidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 30:409-420
2005 Lannoo, Michael (Editor) Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species. University fo California Press, Berkeley. 1115pp.
2005 Faivovich, J., C. F. B. Haddad, P. C. de A. Garcia, D. R. Frost, J. A. Campbell, and W. C. Wheeler. Systematic review of the frog family Hylidae, with special reference to Hylinae: A phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History (294):1–240
2007 Moriarty-Lemmon, Emily. Patterns and Processes of Speciation in North American Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris). Dissertation. University of Texas, Austin. 304pp.
2013 Dodd, C. Kenneth. Frogs of the United States and Canada. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. 982pp.
2023 Dodd, C. Kenneth. Frogs of the United States and Canada. Second Edition. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. 1032pp.

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Thursday 16 July 2026 03:08 CT