An Online Field Guide to the Reptiles & Amphibians of the United States

Remember when you were a child and caught your first frog, turtle, or snake? To many of us, that was the beginning of a life long love of reptiles and amphibians. For me it was an on and off hobby until few years ago. Now it is a passion in my life that needed an outlet. I have researched many species over the years using books, magazine, and the interent. I always found it difficult to find the information in one place, and had to purchase mutliple books and such to find out about different species from different parts of the world. In 2002 I started to put together a small online library of the most commonly kept species in the hobby for my hobby site and it has since blossomed into Herpedia.com.

Herpedia.com is not a reference for keeping reptiles or amphibians in your home, nor is it a truely scientific type encyclopedia that covers all of the different biological difference between two subspecies (i.e. genetic diferences). It leans more to listing and identifying the species & subspecies of every reptile and amphibian in North America that have been recognized to date. Information such as the person credited for the discovery, year of discovery (naming), the scientific name and pronounciation, distribution maps, conservation maps, photographs, and information pages for each that contain the size, general description, range, habitat, mating/breeding, etc. I have also put together a listing for each state of the reptiles and amphibians found in that state. (There is also a printable version of this page for field trips)

Amphibians

There are two of the three major groups of amphibians present in the United States and they are represented by 194 species. They are the salamanders (including newts) (112 species) and the frogs & toads (82 species).

Salamanders resemble lizards in that they have slender bodies, long tails, distinct body regions, and usually front and hinds legs of nearly the same size. Like most amphibians, they have a moist scaleless skin. Salamanders lack the scales, claws, and external ear opening that are present in lizards.

Frogs and Toads are easily identified by their hind feet. True frogs have webbed toes, Tree frogs have toe pads and webbing, Toads have tubercles and no webbing, Spadefoot Toads have a horny projection (the spade) and no webbing.

Reptiles

There are some 283 species of native and introduced species of reptiles in the U.S. They are represented by Crocodilians (3 species), turtles (59 species), lizards (115 species), amphisbaenid (1 species), and snakes (115 species).

Crocodilians, with their size alone, are easily identified as the giants of the reptiles in the U.S. Their size, massive heads, protruding eyes and nostrils, and heavily muscular bodies, compressed tails distinguish them from their cousins, the lizards.

Turtles are recognized by everyone by their shells, which are generally used to distinguish species.

Snakes are the most specializes group of reptiles. They are distinctive in having a long scaled body. Unlike lizards, they have no arms or legs, external ear openings, or eyelids.

Lizards share characteristics with the crocodilians and snakes, but unlike the crocodilians they lack the size, and unlike snakes, they have arms, legs, eyelids, and external ear openings. Snakes and lizards have three types of scales: smooth, keeled, and granular.

And the single species of Amphisbaenid is found in Florida and has a long limbless body that resembles an earthworm. The body scales have formed into rings that encircle the body.