Kansas Herpetofaunal Atlas

An adult Lesser Siren from Douglas County, Kansas (FMNH 117093). Image © Travis W. Taggart.

AMPHIBIA (Amphibians) CAUDATA (Salamanders) SIRENIDAE (Sirens)

Lesser Siren
Siren intermedia Barnes 1826
sī-rĕn — ĭn-tĕr-mē-dē-ă

Conservation Status:
State: None
Federal: None
NatureServe State: SNA - Not Applicable
NatureServe National: N5 - Secure
NatureServe Global: G5 - Secure
CITES: None

Diagnosis:
Lesser sirens are moderately large, elongate, aquatic salamanders that are eel-like in appearance. They have three sets of large external gills throughout their lives, tiny front legs, and no hind limbs. The background color of the body is dark gray to black, and, except for a subtle light line along the upper jaw, these salamanders have no obvious markings. Tiny black spots may be apparent on some individuals. The only potentially similar salamander in Kansas is the Mudpuppy (Nectrurus maculosus), which has four legs.

Distribution:
Known from three specimens from Lawrence deposited in the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago) Collection (FMNH 117902-4). This species does not (and presumably cannot) establish viable populations in Kansas. The three specimens were undoubtedly assigned incorrect locality data before deposition at the museum. They do not occur naturally in Kansas currently, and the closest native population are found in southeastern corners of Oklahoma and Missouri. Their distribution in North America extends from south-central Texas to North Carolina and from central Illinois to northern Mexico and through most of peninsular Florida.
(, Museum Voucher) (, Observation) (, Literature Record) (, iNat Record), ( Fossil)
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Full range depicted by light shaded red area. Export Google Earth (.kml)

Occurrence Summary:
0
Records
0
Museum Vouchers
0
Other Observations

Some county occurrences indicated below may be too imprecise to map above.
County Breakdown: County Name (# occurrences):

Fossil History:
Not known from Kansas and does not range anywhere near Kansas.

Natural History:
These salamanders are permanently aquatic and usually occur in swamps, ponds, lakes, flooded areas along streams, and occasionally roadside ditches, but where aquatic vegetation is dense.
They are difficult to observe because they spend most of their time under water. They can occasionally be captured by seining ponds or flooded areas along large streams. They can also be found by carefully searching in the water at night with good headlights.
Females breed for the first time during their second year and deposit clutches of many (100 to 200 or more) small eggs during late winter (February and March). Eggs are deposited in small cavities in mud at the bottom of swamps and ponds. During extended droughts, western lesser sirens bury themselves in the mud and form a cocoon around their body with skin secretions. The cocoon reduces water loss and allows the salamander to remain inactive for eight months or more. Western lesser sirens feed on a wide variety of aquatic invertebrates.Lesser sirens can grow between 10 and 19 inches in length.

Occurrence Activity:
Number of Unique Obervations (=days): 0; Range: 01 Jan to 01 Jan

Remarks:

Bibliography:

1950	Smith, Hobart M. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of Kansas. University of Kansas, Museum of Natural History, Miscellaneous Publication (2):336 The first modern herpetology of Kansas. Includes locality dot maps within individual species accounts. Reports 96 species from Kansas (table and text say 97 on p. 10) and 13 "probable but unverified" species and subspecies.
1956	Smith, Hobart M. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of Kansas. Second edition. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Miscellaneous Publication (9):1-356 Hobart M. Smith's updated second edition of his first (1950) modern herpetology of Kansas. Includes locality dot maps within individual species accounts. Reports 96 species from Kansas (table says 97 on p. 10; text says 98 on p. 10) and 11 "probable but unverified" species and subspecies. The second edition has updated taxonomy, added Plestiodon laticeps, and removed Eurycea tynerensis.
1957	Brame, Arden H. A list of the world's recent caudata. Privately Published, Los Angeles, California.. 24pp.
1957	Brame, Arden H. A list of the world's Recent caudata. Privately Published, University of Southern California. 31pp.
1978	Brame, Arden H., Jr. II, Ronald Hochnadel, Hobart M. Smith and Rozella B. Smith. Bionumeric codes for amphibians and reptiles of the world. I. Salamanders. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 81(1):43-56
1984	Secor, Stephen M. and Charles C. Carpenter. Distribution maps of Oklahoma reptiles. Oklahoma Herpetological Society Special Publication (3):1-57
1991	Conant, Roger and Joseph T. Collins. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. pp.
1993	Collins, Joseph T. and Suzanne L. Collins. Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas. Third Edition. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Lawrence. 397pp. Joseph T. Collins third Kansas herpetology. <Need to get species total and principal differences with previous 'version' (= Collins 1982)>
1998	Conant, Roger and Joseph T. Collins. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. 3rd ed, expanded. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. pp.
1998	Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians & Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 131pp.
2012	Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. Key to the Herpetofauna of the Continental United States and Canada: Second Edition, Revised and Updated. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 152pp.
2016	Powell, Robert, Roger Conant, and Joseph T. Collins. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston. 494pp.
2017	Crother, Brian I. (editor) Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding. Eighth edition. Herpetological Circulars (43):1-102
2019	Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. Key to the Herpetofauna of the Continental United States and Canada. Third Edition. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 192pp.
2020	Daniel, Richard E. and Brian S. Edmond. Atlas of Missouri Amphibians and Reptiles for 2019. Privately printed, Columbia, Missouri. 86pp.

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