Herpetofauna of the Midwest
Below are links to the different taxonomic groups of the herpetofauna of the Midwestern United States. We use the names accepted by Crother et al. but also endeavor to indicate other common names as used by Conant and Collins.
More detailed information is being gradually made available as web pages or PDFs. These can be accessed by selecting the highlighted names of species in each list. For more extensive fact sheets on species that are particularly imperiled in the Midwest, please click here.
A Species List of Midwest Herps by state, showing conservation status. This list is hosted by opur collaborators, MIdwest PARC (www.mwparc.org).
Amphibians (Latin from Amphi - on both sides and -bios - life)
Amphibians are scaleless vertebrates which typically have their gilled larval stage in aquatic settings which metamorphosis into air-breathing aquatic or terrestrial forms. They are generally susceptible to drying out and so stay associated with some source of moisture like a pond or wet leaf litter.
Reptiles - (Latin - meaning to creep)
Reptiles are scaled and less prone to desiccation than amphibians. They are also more motivated to maintain elevated body temperatures, such as by basking.
