Nebraska sits near the western edge of the southern bog lemming’s range, and its record since 2000 is about as thin as it gets: 2 reports, one each from Franklin and Harlan counties along the Republican River in the south. Two points can’t outline where the species reaches into the state.
Two late-year reports
One record falls in November and one in December. These lemmings don’t hibernate and travel under snow through the winter, but two dates carry no seasonal signal at all.
Habitat on paper versus records on the map
The wet-meadow country that suits the species best, the Sandhills wetlands around Valentine and Crescent Lake national wildlife refuges and the grassy margins of the Platte River, holds exactly the dense, damp cover it needs, yet confirmed records haven’t piled up at any of those places. NatureServe leaves the species unranked in Nebraska (SU), meaning there isn’t enough information to grade its standing. For a secretive rodent at the edge of its range, that unresolved grade fits a state where the record is still being written.
Full species profile
