Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Three Rare Insects Move Closer to Endangered Species Act Safeguards

A Butterfly and Two Diving Beetles Take Key Step Toward Protection
Contact: Taylor Jones (720) 443-2615

Washington, DC—Todaythe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced that it will evaluate threerare insects for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA): the GreatBasin silverspot butterfly, narrow-foot diving beetle, and Scott riffle beetle. This decision resultsfrom three petitions submitted by WildEarth Guardians in 2013. The Service nowhas 12 months to further study the species and decide whether to proposeprotections as “threatened” or “endangered” for each imperiled insect.

“The declines ofthese small insects are caused by serious threats like disappearing aquifers andstreams; those problems need to be addressed for the sake of plants, animalsand people,” said Taylor Jones, endangered species advocate for WildEarthGuardians. “The smallest animals often give us the biggest warning signs ofnature in crisis, and the Service should act quickly to address the causes ofthese insects’ declines.”

The Great Basinsilverspot butterfly (Speyeria nokomisnokomis) is a large orange-brownbutterfly with black markings which inhabitswet meadows, seepage areas, and marshes in otherwise desert habitats of the Southwest. The butterfly depends on thebog violet (Viola nephrophylla), the only plant its larvae will eat. In the U.S., they are found in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico,and Utah, but have disappeared from many of their former sites. Habitat lossand fragmentation is the greatest threat to silverspots, along withinsecticides and climate change. In the last 150 years, the Great Basincompletely lost more than half of its wetlands.

The narrow-foot divingbeetle (Hygrotusdiversipes)is found only in natural pools in eastern Wyoming. Suitable habitats are fewand shrinking. Stream diversion, livestock grazing, and energy development haveseverely damaged many diving beetle pools. For example, Dugout Creek, where thespecies was first discovered, has been heavily grazed and trampled and nolonger has a diving beetle population. Climate change is expected to exacerbatethese threats by increasing the length and intensity of droughts.

The Scott rifflebeetle (Optioservus phaeus gilbert) lives in only one spring in the world—Big Springs inLake Scott State Park in western Kansas—and itsunique habitat is threatened by the dewatering of the underlying OgallalaAquifer. The Ogallala Aquifer is an underground reservoir beneath theHigh Plains of the United States. It is maintained by stores of water trappedin layers of sediment dating back to the last ice age. It is recharged by rainand snow, but that recharge is minimal (averaging less than one inch annually)and is far outweighed by current depletion. The aquifer is in overdraft frombeing heavily tapped for agriculture. In parts of western Kansas, the aquiferlevel has decreased by more than 150 feet, and may be reaching the thresholdbeyond which it can no longer support heavy water demands.

“These insectsgive the Service a perfect opportunity to ‘think globally and act locally,’since they are impacted by large-scale threats,” continued Jones. “TheEndangered Species Act is a proven tool for preventing extinction and aidingimperiled species on the path to recovery and these three species needs theAct’s protections now.”

Protection under theESA is an effective safety net for imperiled species: more than 99 percent ofplants and animals protected by the law exist today. The law is especiallyimportant as a defense against the current extinction crisis; species aredisappearing at a rate much higher than the natural rate of extinction due to humanactivities. Scientists estimate that 227 species would have gone extinct by 2006if not for ESA protections.