Endangered MN herps

I thought it would be neat to start up this thread, which is exclusively about the conservation of the endangered herps here in MN.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the only endangered species here in MN are the Massassagua and the northern cricket frog?

From the MN DNR site.

Amphibians & reptiles


Endangered

Acris crepitans -- Green northern cricket frog

Sistrurus catenatus (Rafinesque) -- massasauga (C)

Threatened

Clemmys insculpta (LeConte) -- wood turtle

Crotalus horridus Linnaeus -- timber rattlesnake

Emydoidea blandingii (Holbrook) -- Blanding's turtle

Special Concern

Apalone mutica (LeSueur) -- smooth softshell

Chelydra serpentina (Linnaeus) -- snapping turtle

Coluber constrictor Linnaeus -- racer

Elaphe obsoleta (Say) -- rat snake

Eumeces fasciatus (Linnaeus) -- five-lined skink

Hemidactylium scutatum (Temminck & Schlegel) -- four-toed salamander

Heterodon nasicus (Baird & Girard) -- western hognose snake

Pituophis catenifer (Blainville) -- gopher snake

Tropidoclonion lineatum (Hallowell) -- lined snake

jason: dont forget rana pipiens...the common northern leopard frog on decline due to our pesticides etc. kristy:)

Here is a very interesting paper on identifying the priority ecoregions for amphibian conservation.

http://www.treewalkers.org/treeftp/LocalConservation/OFP/public/Indentifying_priorities.pdf

Long, but interesting. My eyes are aching from reading most of it...

whats a massasauga? and blandings turtles are one of my favs. they have one at the Lake Superior Aquarium. absolutly beautiful!

A massasuga is a very rare type of rattle snake.

dein211 wrote:

whats a massasauga? and blandings turtles are one of my favs. they have one at the Lake Superior Aquarium. absolutly beautiful!

Yes, as it has already been said a massasauga is a kind of rattlesnake. I havn't been to the Great Lakes Aquarium in about 5 years. Is it still good?