March 6, 2012

While we are on the subject of amphibian eggs, I wanted to share that our Native Frog Habitat is full of eggs. Over the last few nights, one or more of the frogs has been depositing eggs in the water. At this point however, I have more questions than answers.

This exhibit contains a variety of members of the Rana genus. These are the so-called “typical” frogs, and generally look like what you picture when you think of “frog”. Bullfrogs (R. catesbieana), Leopard Frogs (R. pipiens), and others are members of this clade.

Our enclosure contains three species: Bullfrogs, Leopard Frogs, and Pickerel Frogs (R. catesbieana, R. pipiens, and R. palustris respectively) and potentially a few hybrids between the pipiens and palustris. So at this point I do not know which female(s) deposited the eggs, nor do I know if they were fertilized. I guess we will just wait and see what happens.

Unfortunately, it has proven very difficult to get a good photo of the eggs without disturbing them. I will keep trying though.

The photo above is of two amphibian eggs we found under a rock in the southernmost wetland. You can just barely make out the little embryos if you look carefully.

I am tentatively identifying them as from a Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), but will need to do some further nerding-out with my amphibian literature to be sure. This is the same area I found a dead Spotted Salamander in a few weeks ago.