Siren lacertina

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AMPHIBIA	CAUDATA	SIRENIDAE

Scientific Name:

Siren lacertina

Species Authority:

Linnaeus, 1766

Common Name/s:

English

–

Greater Siren

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Assessed:	2004
Assessor/s:	Gabriela Parra-Olea, David Wake, Geoffrey Hammerson
Reviewer/s:	Global Amphibian Assessment Coordinating Team (Simon Stuart, Janice Chanson, Neil Cox and Bruce Young)
Justification: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species occurs in the coastal plain from the District of Columbia through Florida and southern Alabama, USA (Conant and Collins 1991). Large sirens occurring in the Rio Grande Valley (from Upson, Maverick county to Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico) were tentatively assigned to this species by Flores-Villela and Brandon (1992).
Countries:	Native: Mexico; United States
Range Map:	(click map to view full version)

Population [top]

Population:	It is common in Florida (Bartlett and Bartlett 1999), Georgia, and South Carolina; its status elsewhere is not well known (Petranka 1998). There is no information on its abundance in Mexico.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	It lives in shallow, muddy, weed-choked water: swamps, ponds, lakes, streams, ditches. It is found among thick vegetation, under rocks and logs, or burrowed in bottom mud by day. It burrows into bottom mud if water dries up. The eggs are laid in water in small clusters on bottom.
Systems:	Terrestrial; Freshwater

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	It is unthreatened overall, but many local populations have been reduced or extirpated by loss of wetlands (Petranka 1998). The extent to which flood control has reduced opportunities for dispersal among local populations is unknown (Petranka 1998). Disturbance and alteration of the original habitat is a consequence of the industrial activities and urbanization also a threat to local populations.

Major Threat(s):

It is unthreatened overall, but many local populations have been reduced or extirpated by loss of wetlands (Petranka 1998). The extent to which flood control has reduced opportunities for dispersal among local populations is unknown (Petranka 1998). Disturbance and alteration of the original habitat is a consequence of the industrial activities and urbanization also a threat to local populations.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Protection of the species' aquatic habitats is needed. It occurs in several protected areas. This species is protected by Mexican law under the "Special Protection" category (Pr).

Conservation Actions:

Protection of the species' aquatic habitats is needed. It occurs in several protected areas. This species is protected by Mexican law under the "Special Protection" category (Pr).

Citation:	Gabriela Parra-Olea, David Wake, Geoffrey Hammerson 2004. Siren lacertina. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 09 February 2012.
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