The Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans) is a small hylid frog native to the United States and northeastern Mexico. These frogs are majorly in grey, green, and brown color with blotching patterns. Many have a brown or orange stripe down the center of their back and a triangular marking on the top of their head. Despite being members of the tree frog family, they are not arboreal. These frogs prefer habitats near the edges of slow-moving bodies of water and near shelter items, like rocks. It has two recognized subspecies, A. c. crepitans and A. c. paludicola.

The northern cricket frog is one of the three smallest vertebrates in North America, ranging from 19–38 mm (0.75–1.50 in) long. Its dorsal coloration varies widely and includes greys, greens, and browns, often in irregular blotching patterns. The dorsal stripes vary in brightness and hue and are not present until metamorphosis occurs. One New York biologist has identified six distinct color morphs and four pattern morphs, and several intergrades between these. Typically there is dark banding on the legs and a white bar from the eye to the base of the foreleg. The skin has a bumpy texture. It is similar to the southern cricket frog, Acris gryllus, found in the US Southeastern Coastal Plain, but with some overlap along the Fall Line. The southern cricket frog has longer legs, with less webbing on the hind feet, and a more pointed snout, though northern cricket frogs have been observed with snouts indistinguishable from those of the southern species, and the markings on the back of the thigh are typically more sharply defined than that of the northern cricket frog, though biologists have recorded northern cricket frogs in the northern fringes of their range with extremely sharp posterior leg stripes. Northern cricket frogs do not have toe pads. This frog is active most of the year, decreasing during December and resuming around mid-March.

Resource: Wikipedia