Nebraska Academy of Sciences
Date of this Version
2000
Abstract
Fourteen species of amphibians and 30 species of reptiles are documented from South Dakota, based on the examination of 7,361 museum specimen records. No species of the herpetofauna is endemic to the state, which contains a mixture of species from especially the southern and western regions of the United States. Four amphibians (Ambystoma tigrinum, Bufo cognatus, Pseudacris triseriata, and Rana pipiens) and three reptiles (Chrysemys picta, Heterodon nasicus, and Thamnophis radix) occur statewide in appropriate habitats. Three amphibians and 11 reptiles reach their northern distributional limits in the state, and two amphibians reach their southern limits. Two amphibians and five reptiles reach their eastern range boundary, and two amphibians attain their western distributional limits. Based on an analysis of county records compared to potential species occurrences within the 66 counties in the state, only 55.5% of the species-by -county records exist in the museum-specimen voucher records. One species of salamander, Necturus maculosus, lacks specific voucher specimens from the state, although it has been recorded on the Minnesota side of the Minnesota River in northeastern South Dakota. This paper provides information that is intended to aid in the discovery of additional distributional data of South Dakota's herpetofauna.
Comments
2000. Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences, 26: 29-46. Copyright © 2000 Ballinger, Meeker and Thies.