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Keywords

citizen science, range contraction, iNaturalist

Abstract

The black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) was first documented in Arkansas during the modern era in Franklin County in 1927. Over the next few decades records were reported from multiple counties in northwest Arkansas and the species was locally common in Benton, Crawford, and Washington counties in the 1950s. The last Arkansas record documented in the scientific literature was from 1968 and since then there have only been three credible reports, with the last being from the late 1980s. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission solicited reports of jackrabbits from the public and failed to find evidence of them from a limited number of roadkill surveys conducted in western Arkansas from 2007-2024. Evidence from an online citizen science database suggests that the eastern extent of the range of this species is now in central Oklahoma. With no credible records in Arkansas for over 40 years it is likely that this species is no longer present in the state.

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