Threatened and Endangered Species Live in the Ozarks

American Burying Beetle

Species: Nicrophorus americanus

Federal listing: Endangered; July 13, 1989

Status: Declining

This black-and-orange insect feeds primarily on carrion. Dead bodies of small vertebrates are buried by the beetles and later serve as food for hatching larvae. Its decline has been attributed to a variety of factors, including disappearance of old-growth deciduous forests and rural electrification.

These large beetles once were found in 32 states and Canada but now are known only in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Rhode Island.

Arkansas Darter

Species: Etheaostoma cragini

Federal listing: A candidate for the endangered species list

Status: Unknown

The Arkansas darter is a three-inch cousin of the walleye and yellow perch.

The Arkansas darter lives in shallow, spring branches and spring-fed creeks with sandy bottoms and mats of watercress. Its habitat has declined from the impoundment and use of water for agricultural purposes, destruction of stream banks and shallow wetlands, and water pollution near urban areas. The species is listed “rare” by Missouri officials and “threatened” in Colorado.

Ozark Blind Cave Fish

Species: Amblyopsis rosae

Federal listing: Threatened; November 1, 1988

Status: Improving

This eyeless, translucent-bodied fish uses special sensory organs that cover its flat head, body and fins to feel its way around more than 20 Ozark Mountain caves in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

A very low reproductive rate is one reason for their rarity, as are illegal collection by pet dealers and groundwater pollution from sewage, livestock wastes and toxic compounds.

By protecting the habitat of a few cave fish, we also are protecting our own habitat, for much of the drinking water in areas where Ozark cave fish live is groundwater. Ozark cave fish are indicators of environmental health. If they start disappearing, something is wrong.

Indiana Bats

Species: Myotis sodalis

Federal listing: Endangered; March 11, 1967

Status: Declining

These small brown bats are known for their remarkable hibernation clusters. Each bat hangs by its feet from the cave ceiling, and as many as 480 have been counted in a single square foot.

Although Indiana bats range throughout much of the eastern United States, they number fewer than 400,000. Only eight Arkansas caves house more than 30 Indianas during their winter hibernation period (October to April). The present Arkansas population (fewer than 3,000) is half its 1981 size.

Factors behind their decline include commercialization of roosting caves, killing by vandals and use of bats as laboratory experimental animals.

Sources: Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, Colorado Division of Wildlife and Missouri Department of Conservation.