Oklahoma's Threatened, Endangered and Rare Species
Wildlife species may be classified as threatened or endangered at either the state or the federal (national) level.
Nationally, a species may be listed as threatened or endangered throughout its range under the authority of the Endangered Species Act, which is a federal law enacted in the early 1970s. At the present time, 16 wildlife species within the state of Oklahoma are listed as federally threatened or endangered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the federal agency that administers the Endangered Species Act.
The State of Oklahoma has an endangered species statute that
gives the state the authority to list a wildlife species as
threatened or endangered within the state of Oklahoma although
it might not be classified as threatened or endangered federally
through the Endangered Species Act. At the present time, four
(4) wildlife species are listed as state-threatened or
state-endangered in Oklahoma.
Rare Species List
State-listed Threatened and Endangered Wildlife Species (4):
- Long-nosed Darter (Percina nasuta) (State-listed as Endangered)
- Neosho Mucket (Lampsilis rafinesqueana) (State-listed as Endangered)
- Oklahoma Cave Crayfish (Cambarus tartarus) (State-listed as Endangered)
- Black-sided Darter (Percina maculata) (State-listed as Threatened)
Federal-listed Threatened and Endangered Wildlife Species (16):
- Gray Bat (Myotis grisescens) (Federally listed as Endangered)
- Indiana Bat (Myotis sodalis) (Federally Listed as Endangered)
- Ozark Big-eared Bat (Corynorhinus (= Plecotus) townsendii ingens) (Federally Listed as Endangered)
- Whooping Crane (Grus americana) (Federally Listed as Endangered)
- Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) (Federally Listed as Threatened)
- Interior Least Tern (Sterna antillarum) (Federally Listed as Endangered)
- Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis) (Federally Listed as Endangered)
- Black-capped Vireo (Vireo atricapillus) (Federally Listed as Endangered)
- Arkansas River Shiner (Notropis girardi) (Federally Listed as Threatened)
- Ozark Cavefish (Amblyopsis rosae) (Federally Listed as Threatened)
- Neosho Madtom (Noturus placidus) (Federally Listed as Threatened)
- Leopard Darter (Percina pantherina) (Federally Listed as Threatened)
- American Burying Beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) (Federally Listed as Endangered)
- Ouachita Rock Pocketbook (Arkansia wheeleri) (Federally Listed as Endangered)
- Winged Mapleleaf (Quadrula fragosa) (Federally Listed as Endangered)
- Scaleshell (Leptodea leptodon) (Federally Listed as Endangered)
Additional Resources for Threatened and Endangered Wildlife Species
- County by County List of Endangered and Threatened Species
- US Fish and Wildlife Endangered Species Lists