Arkansas Ecological Services Field Office

The Ozark hellbender (C. a. bishopi) is restricted to southern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas (Nickerson and Mays 1973). The Ozark subspecies is described as having dark dorsal blotching and noticeably pronounced chin mottling as opposed to the dorsal spotting of the eastern subspecies which...

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is noted for its striking black-and-white plumage; robust white, chisel-tipped bill; lemon-yellow eye; and pointed crest. Males are red from the nape to the top of their crest with black outlining the front of the crest. Females have a solid black crest which is...

22 cm. Rather small black-and-white woodpecker with longish bill. Above black barred white. Below white with black spots on flanks. Black crown, nape and moustachial stripe border white cheeks and side of neck. Male has small red mark on the side of nape. Juvenile browner with variable extent of...

Size: 18 cm (7.25 in) in length. Color: Breeding season: Pale brown above, lighter below; black band across forehead; bill orange with black tip; legs orange; white rump. Male: Complete or incomplete black band encircles the body at the breast. Female: Paler head band; incomplete breast band....

Length: 25-28 cm. Adults in spring: Above finely mottled with grays, black and light ochre, running into stripes on crown; throat, breast and sides of head cinnamon-brown; dark gray line through eye; abdomen and undertail coverts white; uppertail coverts white, barred with black. Adults in...

The whooping crane occurs only in North America and is North America’s tallest bird, with males approaching 1.5 m (5 ft) when standing erect. The whooping crane adult plumage is snowy white except for black primaries, black or grayish alula (specialized feathers attached to the upper leading end...

Cambarus aculabrum is a small, white, troglobitic crayfish with an overall body length reaching about 48 millimeters (1 .8 inches). This species is distinguished from related surface (epigean) species by a total lack of pigment, and by reduced eyes. It is distinguished from its closest...

C. zophonastes was first described from five specimens collected from Hell Creek Cave (Hobbs and Bedinger 1964). This cave crayfish is stygobitic, lacks pigment and eyes, and has an overall body length reaching 2.5 to 3.0 inches.

The Ozark Cavefish is a small 2-1/4 inch long, blind, pinkish-white fish. Due to the dark environments in which it resides, sight is unnecessary and the cavefish has no eyes.

The yellowcheek darter is a small and laterally-compressed fish that attains a maximum standard length of about 6.4 cm (2.5 in), and has a moderately sharp snout, deep body, and deep caudal peduncle (Raney and Suttkus 1964). The back and sides are grayish brown, often with darker brown saddles...

The pallid sturgeon was first recognized as a species different from shovelnose sturgeon by S. A. Forbes and R. E. Richardson in 1905 based on a study of nine specimens collected from the Mississippi River near Grafton, Illinois (Forbes and Richardson 1905). They named this new species...

Long, glossy fur, light brown to brown. Ears dark, usually black; longer than in any other myotis; when laid forward extend 1/4 cm (7 mm) beyond nose. Tragus long and thin. Calcar keeled.

The Indiana bat is a medium-sized Myotis, closely resembling the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) but differing in coloration. Its fur is a dull grayish chestnut rather than bronze, with the basal portion of the hairs on the back a dull-lead color. This bat's underparts are pinkish to...

Corynorhinus (=Plecotus) townsendii is a medium-sized bat with forearms measuring 39 to 48 millimeters (mm) long and weighing 7 to 12 grams. Total body length is 98 mm, the tail is 46 mm, and the hind foot is 11 mm long. This bat's long ears (over 2.5 centimeters) and facial glands on either...

Outline elliptical to oblong ovate, slightly to moderately inflated, anterior end rounded; sexually dimorphic with posterior end somewhat pointed in males, broadly rounded to truncate in females. Valves thin to moderately thick. Umbos moderately full, slightly projected above the hinge line....

The Neosho Mucket (Lampsilis rafinesqueana) is a freshwater mussel in the family Unionidae. Frierson (1927) described the Neosho Mucket as a dimorphic (male and female shape differs) species; the male is elliptical, rounded before biangulate behind, with dorsal and basal margin equally arched,...

This species has undergone a name change. Find current information at the Ouachita rock pocketbook entry. 

The snuffbox is a small- to medium-sized mussel, with males reaching up to 2.8 in (7.0 cm) in length (Cummings and Mayer 1992, p. 162; Parmalee and Bogan 1998, p. 108). The maximum length of females is about 1.8 in (4.5 cm) (Parmalee and Bogan 1998, p. 108). The shape of the shell is somewhat...

The Ouachita fanshell (Cyprogenia cf. aberti), a freshwater mussel, currently occurs in the Lower Red-Ouachita basin in Arkansas and occurred historically in Louisiana. The Ouachita fanshell is currently an undescribed species, now recognized by species and taxonomic experts as distinct...

Western fanshell is a medium-sized freshwater mussel found in the Lower Mississippi-St. Francis, Neosho-Verdigris and Upper White River basins within Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.