Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program:
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

The petitioning of the Longnose Darter under the US Endangered Species Act triggered a need for further investigation of population genetics to inform the Species Status Assessment and listing decision. Part of this effort will identify if evolutionally significant units or potentially cryptic diversity (undescribed species) exist within populations of what is currently classified as Longnose Darter, Percina nasuta. Together with Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Missouri Department of Conservation, and Yale University, the USGS MO Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit has assisted to collect genetic samples from across the range of the species. The results of this study will be used to inform the listing decision for the species and help managers identify populations essential to the conservation of diversity within this species complex.