The spring peeper now joins a menagerie of other official state animals — the American robin; European mantis; sperm whale; Eastern oyster; American shad and the Dilophosaurus, a theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now North America during the Early Jurassic period, about 186 million years ago.
The same legislation also designated Housatonic marble as the state rock. A group of Mansfield seventh-graders lobbied for the desigantion. The white, sparkly, flecked marble is featured prominently in the 148-year-old state Capitol.
A rock is an aggregate of one or more minerals, or a body of undifferentiated mineral matter, according to the U.S. Geographical Survey. Connecticut adopted the almandine garnet as the official state mineral in 1977.
The American robin likely will soon have to share its state designation once a year for a month under another bill awaiting Lamont’s signature. The legislature voted to name University of Connecticut basketball legend Sue Bird as the co-state bird annually for the month of March. The provision was tucked into a so-called “cleanup bill” with fixes to the $28.1 billion budget bill that also is awaiting the governor’s expected approval.
