Listed Species Utilizing Hardwood Hammock

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The following are listed species utilizing hardwood hammocks and adjacent natural communities in Monroe County.

Common Species
Species
Habitat Preference
Range
American alligator
Alligator mississippiensis


American crocodile
Crocodylus acutus
Primarily in mangrove swamps and along low-energy mangrove-lined bays, creeks, and inland swamps

Bartrams hairstreak butterfly
Strymon acis bartrami
Pine rocklands
The butterfly is primarily restricted to the remaining pine rockland habitat within Everglades National Park and Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge on BPK and deposits eggs only on pineland croton.
Eastern indigo snake*
Drymarchon couperi
Pine flatwoods, scrubby flatwoods, high pines, dry prairies, tropical hardwood hammocks, edges of freshwater marshes, agricultural fields, coastal
dunes
Adult males have larger home ranges than adult females and juveniles; their ranges may encompass as much as 224 hectares and 158 hectares in the summer. No information is available on population viability and habitat needs; therefore, several educated guesses have been made regarding the amount of land needed to protect eastern indigo snakes.
Florida brown snake
Storeria dekayi victa


Florida Keys mole skink
Eumeces egregius egregius


Florida leafwing butterfly
Anaea troglodyta floridalis

This butterfly was possibly extirpated from the Keys as of 2006. Pineland croton, which occurs only on Big Pine and is not known to persist in the remainder of the Keys, is its host plant.
Florida mastiff bat
Eumops glaucinus floridanus
Favorite diurnal roosts may be under the shingles of Spanish tiles

Florida ribbon snake
Thamnophis sauritus


Florida tree snail
Lysiloma and Ficus
Found on a variety of native hammock trees
This endemic subspecies can be found from BPK to the mainland.
Key deer*
Odocoileus virginianus clavium
Restricted to pine rocklands and tropical hardwood hammocks on Big Pine Key (BPK)
They can be found on BPK, No Name Key (NNK), and adjacent keys.
Key Largo cotton mouse*
Peromyscus gossypinus allapaticola
Endemic to tropical hardwood hammocks on Key Largo; restricted to the northernmost portion of Key Largo
The mice can move at least two km (6,400 ft.) in 1-2 days. Male cotton mice have larger home ranges than females, and home ranges overlap because cotton mice do not defend territories. Tropical hardwood hammock fragments up to four hectares in size remain on south Key Largo, but may no longer be able to support Key Largo cotton mice. These hammocks may be too small and isolated to support viable cotton mouse populations.
Key Largo woodrat*
Neotoma floridana smalli
Endemic to tropical hardwood hammocks on Key Largo; restricted to the northern one-third of Key Largo
Hersh (1978) reported that the mean home ranges of six male and four female Key Largo woodrats were about 2,370 meters squared (0.58 acres).
Key ringneck snake
Diadophis punctatus acricus
Scrubby pine rockland and edges and disturbed portions of tropical hardwood hammocks; generally near sources of freshwater

Kirtlands warbler*
Dendroica kirtlandii

The warbler is found in the Bahamas and is not known to winter in Florida.
Lower Keys marsh rabbit
Sylvilagus palustris hefneri
Typically found in saltmarsh areas of slightly higher elevation, also found along freshwater bordered by hammocks and flatwoods

Miami blue butterfly
Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri
Coastal butterfly reported in openings and around the edges of hardwood hammocks and other communities adjacent to the coast that are prone to frequent natural disturbances
This butterfly is found in Bahia Honda SP and KWNWR (Boca Grande and Marquesas). In the Keys, it was most abundant near disturbed hammocks, where weedy flowers
provided nectar.
Red rat snake
Elaphe guttata guttata
Commonly found near pinelands, hardwood hammocks, swamps, agricultural fields, and residential areas
This is a species of special concern in the Lower Keys only.
Rim rock crowned snake
Tantilla oolitica
Found in sandy or rocky soils in slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa), deep humus of tropical hammocks, vacant lots, and pastures with shrubby growth and scattered slash pine
Very little is known about the life histories of this snake.
Schaus swallowtail butterfly*
Heraclides aristodemus ponceanus
Dense, mature, subtropical hardwood hammock habitat on a well-drained substrate with dappled sunlight penetration; dependent on tropical hardwood hammock trees, such astorchwood (Amyris elemifera) and wild-lime (Zanthoxylum fagara), to deposit its eggs
The minimum area of tropical hardwood hammock required for a successful butterfly population is not known, though viable wild populations have been noted over a 14-year period in areas as small as 4 hectares (9.9 acres). Similarly, the optimum density of primary and secondary food plants is not known.
Silver rice rat
Oryzomys palustris natator
Saltmarsh and freshwater wetlands (freshwater marsh, hardwoods, and pinelands) that are adjacent

Stock Island tree snail*
Orthalicus reses reses
Historically known only from hammocks on Stock Island and Key West
The Stock Island tree snail survives best in hammocks with smooth-barked native trees that support relatively large amounts of lichens and algae. In the Keys, Orthalicus is limited to the higher portions of the islands that support hammock forests (minimum elevations of 5-11 feet). No data is available on the minimal hammock size needed to support a viable population of tree snails.
Striped mud turtle
Kinosternon baurii
Largely aquatic inhabits and rarely found out of the water

White-crowned Pigeon
Columba leucocephala
Nests on isolated mangrove islands and primarily feeds on fruits of tropical hardwood hammock trees, such as poisonwood and figs
Florida’s Conservation and Recreational Lands program have targeted all remaining white-crowned pigeon habitats greater than five hectares for acquisition and protection. No data is available on minimum foraging site size, but due to the skittish nature of the pigeon, the patch may need to be large enough to preclude human encroachment within 30-plus feet of the core feeding areas.

*Indicates federally listed species