Selected Records of Reptiles and Amphibians From Kansas

Part 1

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Selected Records of Reptiles and Amphibians from Kansas

BY JOHN BREUKELMAN AND HOBART M. SMITH

University of Kansas Publications Museum of Natural History

Volume 1, No. 5, pp. 101-112 August 15, 1946

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE 1946

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Donald S. Farner, Donald F. Hoffmeister

Volume 1, No. 5, pp. 101-112 Published August 15, 1946

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER TOPEKA, KANSAS 1946

21-2762

Selected Records of Reptiles and Amphibians from Kansas

JOHN BREUKELMAN AND HOBART M. SMITH

Preparation of a handbook of reptiles and amphibians by the junior author has led to a survey of the collections of these animals at Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia. Numerous locality records of interest and importance have been accumulated there through the efforts of the senior author and a number of his students, particularly Mr. Allen Downs. The more important records, including the first record for Kansas of Rana sylvatica, are reported here. We have not mentioned specimens that are from counties from which the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History already has specimens.

Specimens examined by Smith are indicated by an asterisk *; those identified by the late Dr. F. N. Blanchard are indicated by an encircled period # (none of these specimens are now available). All other specimens here recorded have been examined either by the senior author or by Mr. Allen Downs, or by both. Specimen numbers, unless otherwise indicated, are those of the Kansas State Teachers College collection.

#Triturus viridescens louisianensis# (Wolterstorff), Newt.--Cherokee Co.: 1 mile north and 4 miles east of Crestline (No. 164).* This is a terrestrial adult, and provides the second known locality for the species in the state.

#Ambystoma texanum# (Matthes), Narrow-mouthed Salamander.--Lyon Co.: Emporia.

#Ambystoma tigrinum mavortium# (Baird), Tiger Salamander.--Lyon Co.: (No. 292); 2 miles east of Americus. Ness Co.: Ness City (No. 591).

#Scaphiopus bombifrons# Cope, Plains Spadefoot.--Ness Co.: 4 miles west, 1.5 miles north of Ness City (No. 592).

#Bufo americanus americanus# (Holbrook), American Toad.--Chase Co.: 10 miles southwest of Saffordville. Cherokee Co.: 4 miles southeast of Columbus. Lyon Co.: 6 miles south of Plymouth (No. 290)*; Emporia (Nos. 442, 443).* The records from Chase and Lyon counties represent the westernmost localities for the species in Kansas.

#Bufo cognatus# Say, Great Plains Toad.--Ness Co.: 4 miles west and 1.5 miles north of Ness City (No. 594).

#Bufo woodhousii woodhousii# (Girard), Rocky Mountain Toad.--Clark Co.: 11 miles south of Bucklin (No. 401).* Decatur Co.: Sappa Creek near Oberlin (2 spec.).* Ford. Co.: 5 miles southwest of Dodge City (1 spec.).* Lyon Co.: Emporia (No. 352).* Ness Co.: Ness City (Nos. 502-504, 595, 596)*; 4 miles west, 1.5 miles north of Ness City (No. 593).* Sheridan Co.: Sheridan County State Park (Nos. 565-568).

#Acris crepitans# Baird, Northern Cricket Frog.--Ness Co.: 4 miles west and 1.5 miles north of Ness City (Nos. 506, 507, 597-606).*

#Pseudacris nigrita triseriata# (Wied), Striped Chorus Frog.--Lyon Co.: 10 miles south of Plymouth; 3 miles north of Emporia (No. 300); 7 miles west of Olpe; 2 miles northeast of Emporia (Nos. 434-441).* Neosho Co.: 3 miles west of Erie.

#Hyla versicolor versicolor# (Le Conte), Common Tree Toad.--Chautauqua Co.: Elk City (No. 621).

#Rana catesbeiana# Shaw, Bullfrog.--Ness Co.: 4 miles west and 1.5 miles north of Ness City (No. 607).* Wallace Co.: 3 miles east of Sharon Springs (1 spec.).*

#Rana pipiens brachycephala# Cope, Leopard Frog.--Clark Co.: 11 miles south of Bucklin (Nos. 398-400).* Ness Co.: 4 miles west and 1.5 miles north of Ness City (Nos. 505, 508, 509, 608).*

Part 2

#Rana sylvatica cantabrigensis# Baird, Wood Frog.--Lyon Co.: extreme southwestern corner, 3 miles east of Chase County line, between the Verdigris River and the corner of the county (1 specimen, now Mus. Nat. Hist., Univ. Kans., No. 23149).* This specimen provides for the first time a basis for inclusion of the species in the fauna of Kansas. It measures 50 mm. snout to vent; hind leg from vent 80 mm.; tibia 23 mm. The ratio of hind leg to snout-vent measurement is 0.625, and that of the tibia to snout-vent measurement is 2.17. Both figures are too high for Rana s. sylvatica, in which the former ratio varies between 0.53 and 0.62, the latter ratio between 1.6 and 1.88. The ratios agree well with those of R. s. cantabrigensis, in which the former ratio varies from 0.62 to 0.75, the latter from 1.93 to 2.3. Direct comparison of the specimen with typical examples of both subspecies substantiates its allocation to R. s. cantabrigensis.

In the vicinity of Kansas, specimens of this species are known from Missouri (St. Louis and Stone Counties only) and northwestern Arkansas (Washington County: Winslow and Prairie Grove, Mus. Nat. Hist., Univ. Kans., Nos. 16526, 18820, 18823). Reexamination of these specimens confirms their identity as Rana sylvatica sylvatica to which the Missouri specimens from Stone County undoubtedly also belong. Accordingly this race is still to be anticipated in extreme southeastern Kansas.

Reference of the specimen from Lyon County to Rana s. cantabrigensis presents a problem in distribution, for the race is not known from nearer Kansas than North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and southern Illinois, except for a record given by Cope (Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 34:437, 1889) from "western Missouri." Hurter (Trans. St. Louis Acad. Sci., 20:123, 1911) restricts this record to Cooper County, and presumably verifies Cope's identification. Hurter, too, recognized the other form, R. sylvatica, in Missouri (Marble Cave, Stone County). Cope distinguished between the two races (as they are now recognized) and recorded typical R. sylvatica from St. Louis. Accordingly the specimen from Cooper County may be considered properly identified racially. It apparently is from the locality nearest to Kansas at which the race has been taken.

It seems highly probable that the Kansas occurrence, and possibly those in Arkansas and Missouri also, is a relict one. It is highly improbable that the species has a continuous distribution in either state. A wider or more southern distribution in the past seems evident. The group to which it belongs certainly has had a more southern range, as indicated by Taylor's discovery in Meade County, Kansas (Univ. Kans. Sci. Bull., 28:217, 1942), of a fossil species of Rana (parvissima), from the Upper Pliocene, presumably related to sylvatica. It may or may not have been a direct ancestor of the living species.

#Microhyla olivacea# (Hallowell), Northern Narrow-mouthed Toad.--Lyon Co.: 6 miles southwest of Emporia. Wilson Co.: 7 miles northeast of Fall River.

#Crotaphytus collaris collaris# (Say), Collared Lizard.--Geary Co.: 4 miles south of Fort Riley. Wabaunsee Co.: 2 miles northeast of Alma.

#Holbrookia maculata maculata# (Girard), Earless Lizard.--Chase Co.: 7 miles south of Saffordville (No. 350)*; 6 miles southwest of Saffordville; 1 mile south of Saffordville (No. 338)*; 10 miles southwest of Olpe. Hodgeman Co.: Jetmore. Lyon Co.: 5 miles south of Plymouth; 6 miles southeast of Emporia; 9 miles southwest of Emporia. Ness Co.: 4 miles west and 1.5 miles north of Ness City (Nos. 480, 481, 484-497, 609-611)*, 6 miles west and 0.5 miles south of Ness City (Nos. 482, 483, 498).*

#Sceloporus undulatus garmani# Boulenger, Northern Plains Lizard.--Ellsworth Co.: Carneiro; 10 miles south of Ellsworth. McPherson Co.: 4 miles west of Roxbury (No. 133). Ness Co.: 4 miles west and 1.5 miles north of Ness City (No. 479, 612).*

#Phrynosoma cornutum# (Harlan), Texas Horned Lizard.--Ellsworth Co.: 10 miles south of Ellsworth. Lyon Co.: 1 mile south of Emporia; 8 miles southwest of Emporia. Saline Co.: Coronado Heights; 3 miles northwest of Lindsborg.

#Ophisaurus ventralis# (Linnaeus), Glass-snake Lizard.--Lyon Co.: Emporia; 1 mile southwest of Emporia (No. 288).* Rooks Co.: 5 miles southwest of Stockton (No. 407).*

#Cnemidophorus sexlineatus# (Linnaeus), Six-lined Racerunner.--Ellsworth Co.: Carneiro. Lyon Co.: 1.5 miles northwest of Reading. Shawnee Co.: 5 miles east of Topeka (No. 14).*

#Leiolopisma laterale# (Say), Brown Skink.--Labette Co.: 7 miles northwest of Mound Valley (No. 301).* Lyon Co.: 1.5 miles northwest of Reading. Wilson Co.: 4 miles southwest of Coyville (No. 281).*

#Eumeces fasciatus# (Linnaeus), Common Five-lined Skink.--Bourbon Co.: 1 mile north of Fulton. Chase Co.: 7 miles southwest of Saffordville; 6 miles south of Clements; 2 miles south of Saffordville. Franklin Co.: 8 miles east of Ottawa; 2 miles south of Ottawa; 2 miles southwest of Lane; 4 miles east of Ottawa; 5 miles southwest of Ottawa. Labette Co.: 2 miles southwest of Dennis; 7 miles northwest of Mound Valley. Lyon Co.: 1.5 miles northwest of Reading. Miami Co.: 2.5 miles south of Fontana. Montgomery Co.: 5 miles west of Independence. Neosho Co.: 4 miles northwest of Erie (No. 318).*

#Eumeces obsoletus# (Baird and Girard), Sonoran Skink.--Coffey Co.: 4 miles south of Gridley (No. 467).* Ellsworth Co.: 10 miles south of Ellsworth. Franklin Co.: 2 miles south of Lane. Linn Co.: 0.5 miles north of Trading Post. Lyon Co.: 1.5 miles northwest of Reading; 10 miles south of Plymouth; 2.5 miles northeast of Dunlap; 4 miles southwest of Bushong; Emporia (No. 433)*; Dunlap (No. 444).* McPherson Co.: 4 miles west of Lindsborg. Morris Co.: 5 miles east of Skiddy; 1 mile east of Skiddy. Neosho Co.: 15 miles north of Parsons. Wilson Co.: 3 miles east of Buffalo.

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