Habitats and Ecological Communities of Indiana: Presettlement to Present

14. Vertebrate and Cave Invertebrate Species Described from Indiana

224 Vertebrate and Cave Invertebrate Species Described from Indiana 14 A number of early biologists worked in Indiana and described several species from the state. We will list here the vertebrate and cave invertebrate species that have their type localities in Indiana. An impressive number of fish and cave invertebrate species were described from Indiana—fish because some of America’s earliest and most productive ichthyologists worked here, and cave invertebrates because of their high degree of endemism. The information on plants described from Indiana is not readily available and thus has not been included here. Fish Thirty-seven species of fish were described from localities in Indiana, out of the 211 fish historically known from the state (17.5%). This is not surprising, as a number of ichthyologists worked in the state throughout the nineteenth century. Samuel Rafinesque described 24 on his own, from a trip in 1818 down the Ohio River and into the lower Wabash River (Rafinesque 1820). Charles Lesueur, Edward Drinker Cope, David Starr Jordan, Herbert E. Copeland , Charles Gilbert, Barton W. Evermann, and Joseph Swain also described fish species from Indiana prior to the beginning of the twentieth century. The type localities and authors for all the fish species described from Indiana are given in Table F-7. Two of these are the shovelnose sturgeon (Figure 14.1) and the greenside darter (Figure 14.2). Amphibians and Reptiles A total of 5 presently recognized reptiles and amphibians have their type localities in Indiana: 3 turtles, a snake, and a frog (Table H-10). Birds No bird species were originally described from Indiana (American Ornithologists’ Union 1998). The 2 closest type localities are those of Henslow’s sparrow (Kentucky, opposite Cincinnati, Ohio, described Figure 14.1. Shovelnose sturgeon. Photo by Brant Fisher. 225 Vertebrate and Cave Invertebrate Species 1829 by Audubon) and Nelson’s sharp-tailed sparrow (Calumet marshes, Cook County, Illinois, 1875). Most Indiana birds have ranges that extend to the Atlantic or Gulf coasts, and were described from the Carolinas , Pennsylvania, or Louisiana, or from wintering grounds in the West Indies or Mexico, or they have Holarctic distributions and were described in Europe (e.g., waterfowl). Mammals Two species of mammals were originally described from Indiana: the Indiana myotis, Myotis sodalis, described from Wyandotte Cave, Crawford County, by Miller and Allen (1928); and the prairie vole, Microtus ochrogaster, described from New Harmony, Posey County, by Wagner (in Schreber 1842). Cave Invertebrates A surprising number of cave invertebrates—61 species —have been described from Indiana, as indicated in Table I-6. The majority were described in four periods of discovery: 1871–1897 (15 species), 1929–1933 (8 species), 1958–1973 (16 species), and 1994–2004 (22 species). The types come from approximately 35 localities in 11 counties, with Crawford, Lawrence, and Harrison counties being most productive (22, 11, and 8 types, respectively). The single most productive locality is Wyandotte Cave (Crawford County), where 11 species were described between 1871 and 1998. Figure 14.2. Greenside darter. Photo by Brant Fisher. This page intentionally left blank ...