Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, Need a little help here. I found THREE TYPES of tadpoles and want to identify them. ALL found in NY state.

FIRST: Larger in size 2" without tail, found in a perm. POND where snakes, newts, turles also live.

SECOND: Medium in size probably 1-1/4" without tail, found on other side of street WHERE above pond is BUT this part MOSTLY drys up later in the year, but is a SLOW process and may not dry completely.

THIRD: VERY VERY TINY! 1/4"-1/2" without tail Found in a pool of water that RUNS off a CREEK but is probably a vernal type(maybe snow melt) BECAUSE it DOES dry up totally by end of summer. The water was VERY( 2-6" ) shallow and found tads similiar to these (i think) last july with legs but water was going away pretty fast. (gone by august-sept)

I am only familiar with the frogs to Southeast Virginia, but I should be able to help.

There are only two species of frogs that would have large tadpoles this time of year, bullfrogs and green frogs, both of the Rana genus. Your first one appears to be a green frog because of the irregular spots on the tail. The bullfrogs would have much smaller and well-defined spots. Both of the species breed in permanent bodies of water like you mentioned.

The second one is probably Psuedacris because of the size and of the lateral eyes. It could be a spring peeper but I do not know what else is native to your area.

The third one is most likely Bufo, they tend to be small and very dark.

Most tadpoles require a microscope of some type even for identification down to a family. Here I am making generalizations that I know from my area. Conveniently, these are also the types of tadpoles I am catching now.

By the way, when you want to specify the length you have measured not including the tail, it is called the snout to vent length or SVL. It is a standard.

Don't forget to try your best with looking at the tadpole key. Let me know if this helps.
click here for the link...

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*Humans aren't the only species on earth... we just act like it.

".the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without
spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

little ones are definately wood frog tadpoles. the larger are most likely green frogs, slight chance of belig bullfrogs, could even be leopard frogs.
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*~Ginevive~*

How could you possibly say "definitely" about the identification of any tadpole species by looking at the picture? 75% of the tadpoles native to the US require a microscrope to positively identify species. The small ones are DARK just like a Bufo. The ones in the middle have lateral eyes which aren't even characteristic of Rana, they are most likely Psuedacris and definitely Hylidae. The largest would not be leopard frogs at that size.

>>little ones are definately wood frog tadpoles. the larger are most likely green frogs, slight chance of belig bullfrogs, could even be leopard frogs.
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>>*~Ginevive~*
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*Humans aren't the only species on earth... we just act like it.

".the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without
spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

wood frog tads look exactly like my wood frog tads. the other ones i only speculated, nothing definite.
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*~Ginevive~*

I know, I should not have said definately. Nothing is definite until it morphs. Sorry, I was tired (too much Memorial Day teqila last night.)
I really wish I could learn more about hylidae in NY. I never get to observe them, not like the green frogs and american toads that we can just spend hours watching. I honestly never even saw a tree frog tadpole
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*~Ginevive~*

The first is probably a green frog. The second is some sort of treefrog. The third is some type of toad.