Field Guide

Reptiles and Amphibians

Showing 21 - 29 of 29 results
Image of a green frog
Green Frog
Lithobates clamitans (formerly Rana clamitans)
The green frog looks similar to a bullfrog but is smaller and has a ridge of skin along the sides of the back that is not found on bullfrogs. It is a game animal in Missouri.
Image of American Bullfrog
American Bullfrog
Lithobates catesbeianus (formerly Rana catesbeiana)
The American bullfrog is Missouri’s largest frog. This common species is easy to hear on warm nights when the males call a deep, sonorous “jug-a-rum, jug-a-rum” that can be heard from half a mile away.
Blanchard's Cricket Frog
Blanchard's Cricket Frog
Acris blanchardi (formerly Acris crepitans blanchardi)
Blanchard's cricket frog is a nonclimbing member of the treefrog family. It lacks the adhesive toe pads associated with treefrogs. It occurs statewide. The call is a metallic “gick, gick, gick.”
Photo of a yellow mud turtle.
Yellow Mud Turtle
Kinosternon flavescens
The yellow mud turtle is a small, uniformly colored, semiaquatic turtle restricted to certain counties in west-central, northeastern, and southwestern Missouri. It is an endangered species in our state.
Photo of a southern painted turtle basking on a log.
Southern Painted Turtle
Chrysemys dorsalis
The southern painted turtle is small and has a prominent yellow, orange, or red lengthwise stripe down the middle of the upper shell. In Missouri, this aquatic turtle is found only in the Bootheel region.
Photo of an eastern snapping turtle walking on land with algae on shell.
Eastern Snapping Turtle
Chelydra serpentina
A large aquatic turtle with a big pointed head, long thick tail, and small lower shell, the eastern snapping turtle is common throughout the state, anywhere there is permanent water.
Image of alligator snapping turtle
Alligator Snapping Turtle
Macrochelys temminckii
In Missouri, alligator snapping turtles are protected, and it is illegal to harvest them. This species is totally aquatic and rarely leaves the water. In Missouri, it mainly occurs in the large rivers, sloughs, and oxbow lakes of our southern, southeastern, and eastern counties.
Adult southern coal skink resting on a flat limestone rock
Southern Coal Skink
Plestiodon anthracinus pluvialis
The southern coal skink is secretive. It lives in the southern half of Missouri, excluding the Bootheel. Adults are small, shiny, and brownish, with a wide, coal-black line on the side. Juveniles are black with faint lines down the back and sides and a blue-gray tail.
Ozark Hellbender
Ozark Hellbender
Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi
The eastern hellbender is a large, entirely aquatic salamander with a wide, flat head, small, lidless eyes, and soft folds of skin on the sides. In Missouri, it occurs only in the southern Ozark Highlands in spring-fed sections of the Black River system and North Fork of the White River system.
See Also

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.