Field Guide

Reptiles and Amphibians

Showing 1 - 5 of 5 results
Image of an osage copperhead
Eastern Copperhead
Agkistrodon contortrix
The eastern copperhead is the most common venomous snake in Missouri. Its color varies from grayish brown to pinkish tan, with distinctive hourglass-shaped crossbands.
Image of a pickerel frog
Pickerel Frog
Lithobates palustris (formerly Rana palustris)
The pickerel frog is medium-sized, with square or rectangular spots in two parallel rows down the back. There is a distinct ridge of skin along each side of the back. It is absent from the northwestern third of Missouri.
Prairie lizard
Prairie Lizard
Sceloporus consobrinus
The prairie lizard is a small, gray to brown, rough-scaled lizard common in open forests. It often lives around country homes and rock gardens and on stacks of firewood and split rail fences.
Photo of a western ratsnake curled up in grasses under a fence.
Western Ratsnake
Pantherophis obsoletus
The western ratsnake, a glossy black snake, is one of Missouri’s largest and most familiar snakes. Its size and dark color make it seem imposing, but it is as harmless to humans as it is bad news for rodents.
Image of a lined snake
Lined Snake
Tropidoclonion lineatum
The lined snake looks similar to a gartersnake. It is brown to grayish brown, with three lighter-colored stripes down the length of its body and a double row of half-moon-shaped markings along the belly. It occurs mainly in the northwestern part of the state, along the northern border, with a separate population in the St. Louis area.
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About Reptiles and Amphibians in Missouri

Missouri’s herptiles comprise 43 amphibians and 75 reptiles. Amphibians, including salamanders, toads, and frogs, are vertebrate animals that spend at least part of their life cycle in water. They usually have moist skin, lack scales or claws, and are ectothermal (cold-blooded), so they do not produce their own body heat the way birds and mammals do. Reptiles, including turtles, lizards, and snakes, are also vertebrates, and most are ectothermal, but unlike amphibians, reptiles have dry skin with scales, the ones with legs have claws, and they do not have to live part of their lives in water.