The Park's biodiversity is one of its most important features. Major groups like wildflowers, birds, fungi, reptiles, mammals, amphibians, and insects are often seen and documented. Smaller groups, mostly soil-based, like land snails and slugs along with millipedes, are documented less often. But, so are fish. Some groups need more work. Would it surprise you to know that there are crayfish in the park - many yards from water? Or that there are many other types of soil and aquatic invertebrates to be inventoried?

This page will lead you on an exploration of the biodiversity of the Park. Examples of the major groups are pictured below with a link to a page for each group.  In each page, there will be a summary of the group and a list of species that have been found in the Park or might be in the Park. At the bottom of this page is an explanation of the list and its limitations.

image credits

annelids - earthworm by   https://www.inaturalist.org/people/guylord8  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) - image cropped and rotated

fish - Central Stoneroller by https://www.inaturalist.org/people/gradythenatureguy (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) - image cropped

other images by Friends of Clifty Falls State Park

The information for the lists of species comes primarily from posts in the iNaturalist app plus birds from eBird. The list is not meant to be inclusive of all or of all possibilities (a technical scientific review), but just those seen by observers passing through the park. 

Limitations of the List

1. The list is presented to provide a sense of the breadth of biodiversity in the park for the visitor. It is not intended to be a thorough master list of all species . 

2. Most of the list is based on observations made on the app iNaturalist. So species not observed (or observed but not recorded) are missing.

3. The list is biased towards more easily identified and observed. But some common species mat not be logged because people think they are already known.

4. Identifications can be wrong. Errors can still occur and experts may disagree.

5. Some identifications may have been correct at the time, but names do change as more information is learned by the experts.

6. The species may have been there at the time, but is it now? Most of the identifications from eBird and iNaturalist are recent. Except for land snails and slugs, museum databases have not been searched (yet), but age may be a factor.

7. eBird identifications are taken at face value. iNaturalist identifications are classified as "research grade" if 2 or more have agreed or "needs id" if the community has not yet commented or an additional id has not been accepted. The "research grade" identifications are taken at face value especially if there are multiple observations. Single research grade identifications were reviewed as were "needs id" observations. Any observation in which there lacked consensus was not included. A judgement call.

8. iNat data were reviewed as of 8/2/2025. The first specimen was added to iNat on 1/21/2017.  The first specimen was collected on 5/16/2022 (specimens added after collection). eBird data were accessed 7/24/2025.