Federally Endangered, Threatened and Candidate Species

Mammals

Species: Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis)
Status: Endangered
Range: Potentially statewide – all counties
Habitat: Summer habitat includes small to medium river and stream corridors with well developed riparian woods; woodlots within 1 to 3 miles of small to medium rivers and streams; and upland forests. Hibernates in caves and mines.
Threats: Loss of summer roosting and maternity habitat (mature, riparian woods); loss of maternity sites (loose barked trees); loss of hibernacula
Beneficial Practices: Restoration and protection of mature riparian forests; protection and retention of potential individual maternity/roosting trees through selective harvest and forest management; protection of known hibernacula

Birds

Species: Piping plover (Charadrius melodus)
Status: Endangered
Range: Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Lake, Lorain, Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky
Habitat: Beaches along shorelines of the Great Lakes
Threats: Loss or disturbance of nesting sites
Beneficial Practices: Protection of known nesting sites on beaches

Reptiles

Species: Lake Erie water snake (Nerodia sipedon insularum)
Status: Threatened
Range: Erie, Ottawa
Habitat: Cliffs and rocky shorelines of limestone islands in western Lake Erie
Threats: Eradication by humans; loss and degradation of habitat
Beneficial Practices: Protection and management of existing habitat

Species: Copperbelly water snake (Nerodia erythrogaster neglecta)
Status: Threatened
Range: Defiance, Hardin, Williams
Habitat: Wooded and permanently wet areas such as oxbows, sloughs, brushy ditches and floodplain woods; upland woods may be used a hibernation sites
Threats: Loss and degradation of wetland habitats through filling and draining; loss of upland woods used as hibernacula; collection; predation especially where they must cross roads or other open areas
Beneficial Practices: Protection of existing habitats by establishing buffers, removing disturbance and eliminating threats such as filling or draining; management of existing sites to maximize habitat; restoration of new wetlands and similar habitats; establishment and maintenance of corridors to allow movement between suitable habitat

Species: Eastern massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus)
Status: Candidate species
Range: Ashtabula, Champaign, Clark, Clinton, Columbiana, Crawford, Defiance, Erie, Fairfield, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Hardin, Huron, Licking, Logan, Lorain, Lucas, Marion, Medina, Montgomery, Ottawa, Paulding, Portage, Preble, Sandusky, Seneca, Stark, Trumbull, Warren, Wayne, Wyandot
Habitat: Wet areas including wet prairies, marshes and low areas along rivers and lakes; may also use adjacent uplands during part of the year; often hibernate in crayfish burrows but they may also be found under logs and tree roots or in small mammal burrows
Threats: Eradication by humans; loss of habitat through draining or loss of cover; degradation of habitat through changes in cover or barriers such as roads
Beneficial Practices: Protection of existing sites including proper hydrologic regimes and cover; establishment of buffers around existing sites; restoration of new habitat including wet prairies and marshes

Fish

Species: Scioto madtom (Noturus trautmani)
Status: Endangered
Range: Franklin, Madison, Pickaway, Union; possibly extinct
Habitat: Stream riffles of moderate flow over sandy gravel bottom
Threats: Sedimentation and alteration of streams; loss of riparian cover
Beneficial Practices: Practices which reduce or eliminate delivery of sediment to streams; restoration or protection of woody riparian cover; reduction of nutrient enrichment of streams; protection of streams from alteration and disturbance;

Freshwater Mussels

Species: Purple cat’s paw pearly mussel (Epioblasma obliquata obliquata)
Status: Endangered
Range: Coshocton
Habitat: Gravel riffles of medium to large rivers; requires swift current to avoid being buried in silt
Threats: Sedimentation; alteration of streams (dredging, impoundments); pollution; low population size and limited reproduction
Beneficial Practices: Protection of potential habitat from alteration or disturbance; reduction of sediment delivery to streams; reduction of fertilizer and pesticides to streams

Species: Northern riffleshell mussel (Epioblasma torulosa rangiana)
Status: Endangered
Range: Defiance, Franklin, Madison, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Union, Williams
Habitat: Large streams and small rivers in firm sand or riffle areas; also occurs in Lake Erie
Threats: Sedimentation; alteration of streams (dredging, impoundments); pollution
Beneficial Practices: Protection of potential habitat from alteration or disturbance; reduction of sediment delivery to streams; reduction of fertilizer and pesticides to streams

Species: Fanshell mussel (Cyprogenia stegaria)
Status: Endangered
Range: Athens, Coshocton, Meigs, Morgan, Muskingum, Washington
Habitat: Found in areas of packed sand and gravel at locations in a good current
Threats: Sedimentation; alteration of streams (dredging, impoundments); loss of gravel substrate areas; pollution; loss of fish hosts
Beneficial Practices: Protection of potential habitat from alteration or disturbance; reduction of sediment delivery to streams; reduction of fertilizer and pesticides to streams

Species: Clubshell mussel (Pleurobema clava)
Status: Endangered
Range: Ashtabula, Champaign, Coshocton, Defiance, Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Greene, Hancock, Hardin, Madison, Marion, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Trumbull, Union, Williams
Habitat: Found in coarse sand and gravel areas of runs and riffles within streams and small rivers
Threats: Sedimentation; alteration of streams (dredging, impoundments); pollution
Beneficial Practices: Protection of potential habitat from alteration or disturbance; reduction of sediment delivery to streams; reduction of fertilizer and pesticides to streams

Species: White cat’s paw pearly mussel (Epioblasma obliquata perobliqua)
Status: Endangered
Range: Defiance, Williams
Habitat: Firm sand or gravel riffles in small streams and medium to large rivers
Threats: Sedimentation which buries the mussels; fertilizers and pesticides which are concentrated by these filter feeders
Beneficial Practices: Protection of potential habitat from alteration or disturbance; reduction of sediment delivery to streams; reduction of fertilizer and pesticides to streams

Species: Pink mucket pearly mussel (Lampsilis abrupta)
Status: Endangered
Range: Athens, Gallia, Lawrence, Meigs, Morgan, Scioto, Washington
Habitat: Gravel riffles of medium to large rivers
Threats: Sedimentation; alteration of streams (dredging, impoundments); loss of gravel substrate areas; pollution; loss of fish hosts
Beneficial Practices: Protection of potential habitat from alteration or disturbance; reduction of sediment delivery to streams; reduction of fertilizer and pesticides to streams

Species: Rayed Bean (Villosa fabilis)
Status: Candidate
Range: Brown, Champaign, Clermont, Coshocton, Defiance, Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Fulton, Hancock, Hardin, Lucas, Madison, Marion, Miami, Montgomery, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Union, Warren, Williams, Wyandot
Habitat: Rivers, lakes and streams often with water willow stands
Threats: Sedimentation; alteration of streams (dredging, impoundments); loss of gravel substrate areas; pollution; loss of fish hosts
Beneficial Practices: Protection of potential habitat from alteration or disturbance; reduction of sediment delivery to streams; reduction of fertilizer and pesticides to streams

Species: Sheepnose (Plethobasus cyphyus)
Status: Candidate
Range: Adams, Athens, Belmont, Brown, Clermont, Columbiana, Coshocton, Gallia, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lawrence, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Scioto, Washington
Habitat: Sand and gravel bottoms of medium to large rivers
Threats: Sedimentation; alteration of streams (dredging, impoundments); loss of gravel substrate areas; pollution; loss of fish hosts
Beneficial Practices: Protection of potential habitat from alteration or disturbance; reduction of sediment delivery to streams; reduction of fertilizer and pesticides to streams

Insects

Species: American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus)
Status: Endangered
Range: Athens, Hocking, Morgan, Perry, Vinton
Habitat: Generalist, with a slight preference for grasslands and open understory oak hickory forests
Threats: Unsure, possibly lack of appropriate carrion
Beneficial Practices: Not certain due to uncertainly of reason for decline

Species: Mitchell’s satyr (Neonympha mitchellii mitchellii)
Status: Endangered
Range: Portage
Habitat: Fens; wetlands characterized by calcareous soils which are fed by carbonate-rich water from seeps and springs
Threats: Loss or degradation of specific habitat; pesticides and other pollutants
Beneficial Practices: Protection or restoration of fens; this would include establishing buffers around or removing disturbance from existing fens; reduction of pesticide use near existing fens

Species: Karner blue (Lycaeides melissa samuelis)
Status: Endangered
Range: Lucas
Habitat: Pine barrens and oak savannas on sandy soils and containing wild lupines (Lupinus perennis), the only known food plant of the larvae
Threats: Loss or degradation of specific habitat; collection
Beneficial Practices: Protection or restoration of oak savannas or similar habitat; protection of existing areas from degradation; restoration of fire or other measures to encourage lupine


 

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