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State Environmental Services Laboratory,
Oklahoma State Department of Health, Oklahoma City, OK 73152.
Received: 1991 Sep 20; Revised: 1992 Mar 17
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On May 12, 1992, a 24-mm (Oklahoma State Department of Health OSDH# 3632) Arkansas darter Etheostoma cragini (Percidae) was seined from the Cimarron River at a site 7.2 km west of Plainview and upstream from US Highway 64 in Woods County (S7 T28N R20W IM). This collection extends the known range for this darter. This site is 72.4 km downstream from that of the previous collection record in the Cimarron River, which was 4.0 km south of the Oklahoma-Kansas state line on US Highway 283, in Harper County (S15 T29N R26W IM), Oklahoma. The present distribution of E. cragini in western Oklahoma includes the Cimarron River from 19.3 km northwest of Knowles, in Beaver County (S24 T6N R25E CM), on the county road to Mead, Kansas, to Plainview in Woods County. We previously collected 394 specimens from the Cimarron River and two major tributaries, Crooked and Horse Creeks in Beaver County (1). Both tributaries support small populations of Arkansas darters.
On August 2, 1990 two lake chubsuckers, Erimyzon sucetta, (OSDH# 3500) measuring 56 mm and 62 mm, were seined from Longtown Creek, 8.1 km north of Quinton on State Highway 71 (S11 T8N R18E IM). Longtown Creek was a tributary of the Canadian River before impoundment by Lake Eufaula in 1964. This species was first reported in Oklahoma seining collections from the Little River drainage in southeastern Oklahoma (2). Twelve specimens were collected from four sites, in McCurtain County. Upon reexamination of fish in the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History (University of Oklahoma) collections, three additional examples (OKMNH# 339969, 39827, and 40687) of this species were found, all from McCurtain County (2). Our two specimens are the first record of this species in the Arkansas River drainage in Oklahoma.
Both specimens were found in a small, well shaded pool filled with emergent aquatic vegetation. The water was clear, dark brown, and not flowing. The substrata was covered with large rocks and decaying leaves. Other species taken in this creek were central stonerollers (Campostoma anomalum), brook silverside (Labidesthes sicculus), redfin shiner (Lythnurus umbratilis), largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), longear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis), bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), and green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus).
On July 11, 1983 we seined three 10-11-mm flathead chubs (Platygobio gracilis) (OSDH# 1170) from the Salt Fork of the Red River, 0.8 km south of Mangum, downstream from State Highway 34 in Greer County (S34 T5N R22W IM). This is the first record of this species from the Red River drainage in Oklahoma. In 1987 ten specimens were collected by Twidell and Davis of the Texas Water Commission from Sweetwater Creek, a tributary that flows into the North Fork of the Red River just before the Salt Fork enters Oklahoma (3).
All previous Oklahoma collection records of this species in the Oklahoma State University Collection of Vertebrates and OKMNH, were from the Cimarron and South Canadian rivers. We have taken this species 17 times since 1976 from the Arkansas River drainage. There were 155 specimens in 13 collections made between 1980 and 1989 from two sites on the Cimarron River north (S4 T5N R1E CM) and east (S11 T5N R2E CM) of Kenton in Cimarron County. We obtained a single specimen each in 1983 (OSDH# 1041) and 1984 (OSDH# 1386) from the Cimarron River, near Dover (S14 T17N R7W IM) in Kingfisher County. In 1988 we collected three specimens (OSDH#3133) from Cirrumpa Creek (S7 T2N R1E CM) at the New Mexico State Line, a tributary of the North Canadian River in Cimarron County. In 1983 we made one collection of (OSDH#
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1112) five specimens from the Arkansas River northeast of Ponca City, in Kay County (S25 T26N R3E IM).
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1. Pigg, J., Harrison, W., and Gibbs, R., Records of the Arkansas Darter, Etheostoma cragini, Gilbret, in Harper and Beaver Counties in Oklahoma. Proc. Okla. Acad. Sci. 65, 61-63 (1985).
2. Rutherford, D.A., Echelle, A.A., and Maugham, O.E., An Addition to the Fish Fauna of Oklahoma. Southwest. Nat. 30, 305-306 (1985).
3. Twidell, S.R., and Davis, J.R., An Assessment of Six Least Distributed Unclassified Texas Streams. Texas Water Commission, Austin, TX. LP 89-04 (July, 1989).
