This species is usually found near breeding ponds in pine flatwoods, floodplains, and bottomland hardwood forests. In South Carolina, avoided clear cuts and open fields, it occurred in all types of forest (Semlitsch 1981). Terrestrial adults live in underground burrows; sometimes found under logs or other objects in damp places. Breeds in shallow ponds and flooded depressions that are free of fishes and that often have abundant emergent and/or submerged vegetation. Eggs are attached to stems or sticks or to the substrate. Reproductive success positively correlated with duration of standing water in breeding pond, but not with number of breeding females or number of eggs laid (Semlitsch 1987). This species has a free-living larval stage.

This species can be found in the southeastern United States of America from the Coastal Plain of South Carolina through northern Florida, west to eastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma, and north in the Mississippi Valley to southern Illinois. Disjunctive subpopulations occur in Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky (Conant and Collins 1991).

Conservation Actions In-Place
This species is listed as a 'Species of Special Concern' in North Carolina, and as "In Need of Management" in Tennessee (Green et al. 2014). It occurs in several protected areas.

Conservation Needed
Habitat protection, specifically of vernal pools used for breeding and adjacent wooded areas up to at least 200-250 m from the pools, is recommended for the conservation of this species. Additionally, it is recommended that regulatory and management agencies should increase efforts to minimize forest fragmentation.

Research Needed
Further research on this species' distribution, population size and trends is recommended.