ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to assess the status of Hoosier Frogs in Indiana and makes management recommendations to ensure populations survive in perpetuity. Sherman Minton provided the best early assessment of the distribution of Crawfish Frogs in Indiana. According to Minton, Crawfish Frogs were considered “locally plentiful” in western Indiana until about 1970, when populations began to experience unexplained declines. Crawfish Frogs were first reported in Vigo County by Willis Blatchley, who received two specimens collected by C. Stewart at “the south part of the city of Terre Haute” on 8 and 9 October, 1893. Indiana Department of Natural Resources biologists identified a Crawfish Frog breeding site near the Parke County line in 2007. Crawfish Frogs historically occurred across the southwestern quarter of Indiana, ranging from the Ohio River north to Fountain and Benton Counties. Crawfish Frogs appear to have been locally extirpated at two sites in the Jefferson County portion of Big Oaks NWR.
