Work on this project began in 1998 with the goal of producing a distributional atlas for reptiles (including crocodilians, turtles, lizards, and snakes) in Tennessee that would complement the Atlas of Amphibians in Tennessee published in 1996. Over the next 10 years occurrence data for reptiles in Tennessee were obtained and verified on visits to 25 museum collections throughout the eastern United States. Additional information was gathered from personal field work by the authors and via a thorough search of the literature. Museum records, including our personal collections housed in Austin Peay State University’s herpetology collection, totaled 9827, representing 10,738 specimens. The literature search identified 404 documents that included 2859 references to reptiles in the state. Excluding fossil records, 66 species of reptiles were reported from Tennessee in the literature, but only 58 are currently considered native and will be covered in the Atlas accounts. The other eight are likely based on encounters with escaped exotics, misidentified specimens, or erroneous locality data and are discussed in a section on questionable species reports.

Museum specimens with Tennessee locality data date back to 1855 and represent 59 species, 57 that are among those considered native based on literature reports and two questionable taxa that are discussed as such. Numbers of records and species per county appear related to their proximity to accessible public lands and/or institutions of higher learning.

Many individuals, some now deceased, contributed variously to this project. Included among them were directors, curators, technicians and clerical assistants at the museums visited; university professors and college students; employees of organizations and agencies that provided financial or other support; and members of the general public. To all of them we are grateful. Listed in alphabetical order, their names follow: David L. Auth, Allison Anderson, Hank Bart, Jeff Beane, Benjamin Beas, Tom Blanchard, Alvin Braswell, Angelo Bufalino, Frank T. Burbrink, Martye Burkett, Ray Burkett, John Byrd, David Campbell, Gabby Call, Andrew Campbell, David Cannatella, Ben Cash, Chris Caustin, Joseph T. Collins, Marilyn J. Griffy, Charles M. Dardia, Jon Davenport, Jamie DeAnda, Don DeFoe, Harold Dundee, Perri Eason, Arthur Echternacht, Andrea English, Robert English, Joshua Ennen, Kevin Fitch, David Frymire, Steve Gotte, Bill Gutzke, Craig Guyer, Michele Greenan, Nathan Haislip, Jim Hamlington, Michael J. Harvey, Bob Hatcher, Hill Henry, Jeff Holmes, Andy Huff, John B. Iverson, Susan Jeffers, Eric Johansen, Michael L. Kennedy, Kenneth Kirk, Michelle Koo, John Koons, Keith Langdon, Jean Langley, John MacGregor, Joshua Maloney, Christine A. Mayer, Les Meade, Stephanie McCormick, Seth McCormick, Brian Miller, Max Nickerson, Matthew Niemiller, Ron Nussbaum, Chris O’Bryan, Chris Phillips, Mary Peterson, John Petzing, George Pisani, David Pitts, James Poindexter, Tammy Pryor, Anne Readel, Joshua Ream, Alan Resetar, Stephen P. Rogers, Jose Rosado, Charles Rozelle, Marcia Schilling, Greg Schneider, Greg Sievert, John Simmons, Joe Slowinski, Christy Ferrell Smith, Rusty Smith, Jeff Stewart, Scott Sutton, Mark Thurman, Stanley E. Trauth, Dick Vogt, Gary Walker, Robert G. Webb, Colleen White, John Wiens, Kenneth Williams, Rod N. Williams, Scott Williamson, Larry Wilson, David Withers, Pete Wyatt, George R. Wyckoff, Alex J. Wyss, Kiah York, Edmund Zimmerer, George Zug, Richard Zweifel.

Austin Peay State University’s Center for Field Biology provided funding to cover labor and travel expenses associated with trips to gather and verify museum data. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency underwrote, through a contract using Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA) monies, the cost of digitizing the majority of the data, and The Nature Conservancy of Tennessee and the Tennessee Herpetology Society each donated monetary sums to be used in support of the project.

Scott, A. F. and W. H. Redmond.  2008 (latest update: day month year).  Atlas of Reptiles in Tennessee.  The Center for Field Biology, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.  Available at http://apsu.edu/reptatlas/ (accessed day month year).

Posted: 1 May 2008

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This document is being adapted to the WWW by Jean Langley, Floyd Scott, and Rusty Smith.