Calla Beers - Extirpated Organisms of Michigan

SETOPHAGA KIRTLANDII. Kirkland’s Warbler.

Department of Natural Resources. (n.d.). Jack Pine. Retrieved from https://www.michigan.gov/ dnr/0,4570,7-350-79135_79218_79615_86810---,00.htmlU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (n.d.).

Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). Kirtland’s Warbler Identification, All About Birds. Retrieved from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Kirtlands_Warbler/id Serba, J. (2017, February 15). 26 Michigan species in danger of disappearing. Retrieved from https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/2017/02/michigans_endangered_and_threa.html U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (n.d.). Kirtland’s warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii ). Retrieved from https://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/birds/Kirtland/

Setophaga kirtlandii has a brown or gray upper body with dark streaks running down the back. The stomach is yellow and the flanks are also darkly streaked. These birds have dark legs, thin wing bars, and a distinct broken white eye ring. Males have a dark mark in front of the eye. Adults grow to between 14 and 15 centimeters and 12 to 16 grams on weight. Their breeding habitat is limited strictly to dense areas of jack pine trees mostly found in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula and some limited areas of the Upper Peninsula. The species prefers 300 to 400 acres of jack pine forest historically created by sites disturbed by wildfires.

Their highly specific nesting requirements are the main concern for these birds. Development has decreased the jack pine stands required for reproduction and nesting. The suppression of forest fires that enable jack pine propagation also contributes to limited amounts of reproduction habitat. Effort to recreate their endemic habitat through controlled burns have thus far conserved this species.

N E R O D I A E RY T H O G A S T E R N E G L E C TA .

Copperbelly Water Snake.

University of Kentucky. (n.d.). Copperbelly Water Snake. Retrieved March 15, 2020, from https://oepos.ca.uky.edu/content/copperbelly-water-snake U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (n.d.). Copperbelly Water Snake. Retrieved January 25, 2020, from https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/reptiles/cws/index.html

Nerodia erythogaster neglecta grows between 30 to 48 inches in length and is colored a dark black that fades to a red and orange ventral side. This reptile uniquely gives live birth to young that develop inside the female. These animals live in lowland swamps or other warm quiet waters, though they also depend on ephemeral pools in the spring and summer to hunt their prey: snapping turtles, large fish, frogs, other snakes, aquatic birds, and some small mammals such as otters, racoons, and mink. These snakes can still be found in Southern Michigan’s wetland areas.

In order to create more viable land to be used for housing and agriculture, the wetlands of Michigan have been largely destroyed. This change has negatively impacted the amount of space available for these organisms to use as viable habitats. Though they are protected by their threatened status, they are still illegally collected to be kept as pets, diminishing their already small numbers.

B RYC H I U S H U N G E R F O R D I .

Hungerford’s Crawling Beetle.

Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks. (n.d.). Retrieved December 14, 2019, from https://www.ontario.ca/page/hungerfords-crawling-water-beetle U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (n.d.). Midwest Region Endangered Species. Retrieved December 14, 2019, from https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/insects/hcwb/hungerfo.html

This small beetle ranges from yellow to brown in color with distinctive black bands running the length of the insect’s back on their wing covers. With an average life span of about eighteen months, the individuals can grow up to four millimeters long in their adult stage.

This herbivorous beetle spends most of its life in cold, clean, fast moving streams. Though they appear to have the ability to fly, Hungford’s crawling beetle’s have been observed most commonly in water directly below dams and other structures that obstruct water in a similar way. Populations of this species are found almost exclusive within Michigan.

Shifts in stream management such as dam removal or dredging threaten the preferred stream flow and habitat. Introduced sport fish species, such as brown trout, also may contribute to extirpation through increased predation. Another threat to the beetle is stream degradation through pollution from agricultural runoff and groundwater contamination.

S O M AT O C H L O R A H I N E A N A .

Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly.

Center for Biological Diversity. (n.d.). Natural History. Retrieved April 1, 2020, from https:// www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/invertebrates/Hines_emerald_dragonfly/natural_history. html Serba, J. (2017, February 15). 26 Michigan species in danger of disappearing. Retrieved from https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/2017/02/michigans_endangered_and_threa.html U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (n.d.). Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly (Somatochlora hineana).Retrieved April 1, 2020, from https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/insects/hed/hins_fct. html

These insects have a metallic green, brown, or black coloring along their bodies and their titular bright green eyes. Adult females spawn in shallow waters and nymphs live between two to four years before shedding their skin and becoming adults. As adults, yellow lateral stripes turn white with age over the course of four to five weeks of adult life. The body is an average of 6 centimeters and the wingspan can reach about 8 centimeters. The wings range from clear to amber in color and become opaque with age. Their habitat is usually wetlands or other open areas in close proximity to cool, shallow, and slow moving waters that provide shelter for larvae and nymphs.

This species is found in the northeastern portion of the Lower Peninsula and southeastern area of the Upper Peninsula. Threats to wetland habitat, such as shifts in land use and development, agricultural run-off, and groundwater contamination, are the major challenges to this insect. As Michigan’s wetlands become increasingly fragmented breeding populations become more scattered and divided, risking lack of gene flow and loss of genetic diversity.

A C I P E N S E R F U LV E C E N S .

Lake Sturgeon.

Michigan Departmnet of Natural Resources. (n.d.). Lake Sturgeon. Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79119_79146_82434---,00.html Michigan State University. (n.d.). Michigan Natural Features Inventory. Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/species/description/11270/Acipenser-fulvescens National Wildlife Federation. (n.d.). Lake Sturgeon. Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://www. nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Fish/Lake-Sturgeon

Acipenser fulvescens is the oldest native fish species in the Great Lakes, also inhabiting rivers during spawning season in spring. This benthic species processes a long snout, four sensory barbels, and inferiorly located mouth to disturb sediment while feeding to locate small invertebrates. Lake Sturgeon have a partly cartilaginous skeleton and coarse skin with five rows of bony plates called scutes. The heterocercal caudal fin and large size are distinguishing features. Their elongated bodies can reach up to two meters long in their typical lifespan of fifty-five years for males and seventy to one hundred years for females.

Although they were once copious numbers of lake sturgeon in the Great Lakes, human interference and a unique life history have decimated the population. Extreme overfishing in the 1800s followed by major developments such as dams that restricted spawning habitat contributed considerably to population decline. With female sturgeon reaching reproductive maturity at fifteen to twenty-five years of age and reproducing every four years on average, Michigan’s population was slow to revive. Further challenges for population growth include pollution, destruction of spawning habitat, reduction in food sources, invasive species, and climate change related stressors such as increased water temperatures and longer summer stratification periods.

AM BY S T O M A O PA C U M .

Marbled Salamander.

Michigan State University. (n.d.). Michigan Natural Features Inventory. Retrieved March 28, 2020, from https://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/species/description/10833/Ambystoma-opacum Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia. (n.d.). Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum). Retrieved March 28, 2020, from https://srelherp.uga.edu/salamanders/ambopa.htm

Marbled salamanders range from 9 to 10.7 centimeters in length and appear stout bodied.

This salamander is easily identified by its dark brown or black body with sexually dimorphic light crossbands, with males having white crossbands and females a silver-gray color. Juveniles possess lightly yellow colored flecks rather than crossbands, which develop after several weeks or months. Adult individuals are nocturnal and most commonly found in moist lowland forest areas as well as dryer upland areas such as forested rocky hillsides. This species breeds in fall and lays its eggs on land, uncommon for most salamander species which breed in winter. As a fossorial species, they can rarely be found, usually under logs or rocks.

This species is only found at four sites in the southwest portion of the Lower Peninsula within Allegan, Berrien, and Van Buren counties. The last confirmed record in the state is from 1989 in Allegan county. The largest threat to this species is loss of suitable habitats and vernal ponds due to development projects such as timber harvesting and drainage projects.

Habitat fragmentation and the resulting gene bottlenecks are a further hurtle for revitalizing local populations.

IRIS LACUSTRUS. Dwarf Lake Iris.

Serba, J. (2017, February 15). 26 Michigan species in danger of disappearing. Retrieved from https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/2017/02/michigans_endangered_and_threa.html State Symbol USA. (n.d.). Dwarf Lake Iris. Retrieved February 4, 2020, from https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/michigan/state-flower/dwarf-lake-iris

Iris lacustrus is a perennial, rhizomatous plant prized for its blue, lilac, and a rare white blooms. At 6 to 8 inches in height and a flower of about a 1.5 inch diameter, the dwarf lake iris is much smaller than other iris. The plants blooms between June and July for about a week to produce 1 to 2 flowers, each with three outer, violet petals with orange, white, or yellow centers that direct insects to the lower section of the sepal to the nectar. The organism can also be identified by its distinct basal leaves that can grow 8 to 12 inches in a sword-like shape and continue to lengthen up to 6 inches after flowering occurs. Due to the plant’s rhizomes, it is found in thick groups. The plant can be found in cool and moist lakeshore habitats, usually on beach sand dunes and sometimes limestone rich gravel within 500 meters of the lake shore.

Although this flower was adopted as Michigan’s state wildflower in 1998, it can only be found on the shores of northern Lake Michigan and Huron as well as a few individuals surviving on remote islands and the southern shores of Lake Superior. Due to the plant’s highly specialized niche within Michigan’s most sought after land, shoreline development has heavily encroached upon and depleted this organism’s habitat. The plant’s rarity and visual beauty also contribute to illegal collecting.

NICROPHORUS AMERICANUS. American Burying Beetle.

Raithel, C. (n.d.). American Burying Beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) Recovery Plan (pp. 1–8).

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Serba, J. (2017, February 15). 26 Michigan species in danger of disappearing. Retrieved from https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/2017/02/michigans_endangered_and_threa.html

Nicrophorus americanus was the largest species of its genus in North America measuring between 25- 35mm long. Hard elytra, or front wings, meet on the back and each have two orange markings that contrast with shiny black background, with another large bright orange mark on the raised pronotum. Two antennae are tipped in orange as well. These beetles exhibit parental care of young by reproducing and raising offspring on buried vertebrate carrion.

Last seen in Michigan in 1961 in Kalamazoo County, it is theorized that the American Burying Beetle was inordinately impacted by the spraying of pesticides such as DDT during the 1940s through 1970s when DDT was widely used. Habitat fragmentation from development likely separated historic populations of the species, inhibiting population growth and reproduction. This change in Michigan’s habitats also could make feeding and reproduction more difficult by creating a lack of carrion by limiting the movement and reproduction of these organisms. Michigan’s land use shift toward agriculture also limited available space for carrion resources.

MYOTIS SODALIS. Indiana Bat.

Indiana Department of Natural Resources. (n.d.). Indiana Bats. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3371.htm Serba, J. (2017, February 15). 26 Michigan species in danger of disappearing. Retrieved from https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/2017/02/michigans_endangered_and_threa.html U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (n.d.). Indiana Bat (Myotis sodalis). Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/mammals/inba/index.html

Myotis sodalis is small, ranging from 1.5 to 2 inches long and about 1.4 of an ounce in weight, and can be found in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula. They are dark brown to black in color and can be distinguished from the common little brown bat by its pink lips, foot size, length of the toe hairs, and a keeled calcar upon closer inspection. Maternity colonies have been found sheltering behind loose tree bark during the summer months, at times reaching groups of up to 100 individuals. In the winter these animals hibernate in colonies of up to 20,000 to 50,000 individuals, the number being contingent on the size of their cave or abandoned mine. From spring through fall, bats consume nocturnal, flying insects through the use of echolocation with individuals consuming up to 3,000 insects per feeding to accumulate energy reserves for the winter.

The population of Myotis sodalis has been continually decreased by a multitude of threats since the 1960s. Since large groups of bats hibernate together in a relatively few number of caves, commercial visitations to these caves by humans can disrupt hibernation and cause bats to starve as they are forced to rapidly consume their energy reserves. Though less is known about their preferred summer habitats, disturbances to the forests in which they live may also impact their population. Pesticides sprayed on crops can be consumed by these animals through contaminated prey items in a process called bioaccumulation, causing bats to retain large quantities of adverse chemicals in their tissue. A more recent peril was recognized in 2006 is white-nose syndrome. This fungal disease appears as a white ring on the nose or wings of infected individuals, with a penchant for spreading and high mortality rate.