Field Guide

A glacial relict in Missouri’s eastern Ozarks, the four-toed salamander lives among mosses in heavily forested streams and creeks and sinkhole ponds. It has a thick, round tail that is constricted at its base. There are four toes on each limb.

The grotto salamander is Missouri’s only species of blind salamander. A true troglobite, it lives in total darkness and has small eyes that are completely or partially covered by their pink or beige skin. Occurs in wet caves in the Ozarks.

The northern leopard frog is a medium-sized frog with dark spots on the back. Two skin folds run down each side of the back. In Missouri, it only occurs in a few northwestern counties along the Iowa border.

A very secretive species, the northern crawfish frog spends most of its time hidden burrows, typically those made by crayfish. It is restricted to native prairie or former prairie areas and is a species of conservation concern in Missouri.

Unlike other true toads in Missouri, the Great Plains toad has a raised hump between the eyes on the snout. Look for it along the Missouri River floodplain, from the Iowa border to about Hermann.

With its stout body and thick forearms, the rare Illinois chorus frog may at first appear more like a toad. It lives in open, sandy areas that were formerly sand prairie grasslands and wetlands of southeastern Missouri.

Prairie racerunners are fast, alert, ground-dwelling lizards. They live in open areas like fields, grasslands, and rocky, south-facing hillsides, including Ozark glades. They are related to the whiptail lizards that live in the western United States.

Missouri has two subspecies of prairie skinks. They both have many stripes and a long tail. In Missouri, these lizards are rare. Northern prairie skinks occur only in our northwest counties. Southern prairie skinks are known only from Barton County, near Kansas.