Green Frog on Lily Pad

A male Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans) rests motionless on a floating lily pad in a shaded corner of a pond in Virginia’s Rockfish Valley. The tympanum just behind his eye is oversized, a visual cue that marks him as male. Look closely and you’ll see the dorsolateral ridge tracing a faint line down his flank, an easy way to tell him apart from his larger cousin, the American Bullfrog. This species is common in wetlands and ponds throughout the eastern United States, where it often stays still long enough to disappear completely into its surroundings.