Editing Hellbender (section)

==Distribution==
Hellbenders are present in a number of Eastern US states, from southern [[New York (state)|New York]] to northern [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]],<ref name=cryptobranchus291>{{cite journal|last=Peterson|first=C.L |author2=Metter, D.E.|author3=Miller, B.T.|author4=Wilkinson, R.F.|author5=Topping, M.S.|title=Demography of the Hellbender ''Cryptobranchus alleganiensis'' in the Ozarks|journal=American Midland Naturalist|date=April 1988|volume=199|issue=2|pages=291–303|jstor=2425812|doi=10.2307/2425812|s2cid=85842376 }}</ref> including parts of [[Ohio]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Maryland]], [[West Virginia]], [[Virginia]], [[Kentucky]], [[Illinois]], [[Indiana]], [[Tennessee]], [[North Carolina]], [[South Carolina]], [[Alabama]], [[Mississippi]], [[Arkansas]], [[Missouri]], and extending into [[Oklahoma]] and [[Kansas]]. However, only one documented sighting has been recorded in South Carolina.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The subspecies (or species, depending on the source) ''C.&nbsp;a. bishopi'' is confined to the [[Ozarks]] of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, while ''C.&nbsp;a. alleganiensis'' is found in the rest of these states.<ref name=hellbender94>{{cite journal |last=Williams |first=R.D. |author2=Gates, J.T. |author3=Hocutt, C.H |author4=Taylor, G.J.  |title=The Hellbender: A Nongame Species in Need of Management |journal=Wildlife Society Bulletin |volume=9 |issue=2 |year=1981 |pages=94–100 |jstor=3781577}}</ref>

Some hellbender populations—namely a few in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee—have historically been noted to be quite abundant, but several man-made threats have converged on the species such that it has seen a serious population decline throughout its range.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Albanese |first1=Brett |last2=Jensen |first2=John B. |last3=Unger |first3=Shem D. |title='Occurrence of the Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis) in the Coosawattee River System (Mobile River Basin), Georgia |journal=Southeastern Naturalist |date=2011 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=181–184|doi=10.1656/058.010.0116|s2cid=84971915 }}</ref> In Missouri, it is estimated that the populations have declined by 77% since the 1980s.<ref>Catherine M. Bodinof, Jeffrey T. Briggler, Randall E. Junge, Tony Mong, Jeff Beringer, Mark D. Wanner, Chawna D. Schuette, Jeff Ettling, Joshua J. Millspaugh; Survival and Body Condition of Captive-Reared Juvenile Ozark Hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi) Following Translocation to the Wild. Copeia 30 March 2012; 2012 (1): 150–159. doi: https://doi.org/10.1643/CH-11-024</ref> Hellbender populations were listed in 1981 as already extirpated or endangered in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Maryland, decreasing in Arkansas and Kentucky, and generally threatened as a species throughout their range by various human activities and developments.<ref name=hellbender94/>