Federal wildlife officials have announced their consideration of adding 10 new species to the Endangered Species Act, including a crucial bumblebee serving as a primary pollinator across the United States.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has completed 90-day reviews of petitions for adding these species to the list, determining that listing may be necessary, triggering further reviews of their status.
Among the notable species under consideration is the Southern Plains bumblebee, a large black-and-yellow bumblebee inhabiting open prairies and grasslands in the mid-Atlantic and Plains states. It is also found in southeastern U.S. grasslands and savannas. The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned for its inclusion due to habitat loss, degradation, and pesticide use, causing significant declines in populations in southern Plains states, including Texas and Oklahoma, as well as Alabama and Mississippi.
Other species being reviewed include the betta hendra and betta rutilans, freshwater fish in Borneo; the Hickory Nut Gorge salamander in western North Carolina; the pygmy rabbit in mountainous western U.S.; the Railroad Valley toad in Nevada; the Southwest spring firefly in Arizona; the white-margined penstemon, a rare perennial plant in the Mojave Desert; and the yellow-spotted woodland salamander on the Appalachian plateau in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service chose not to review the status of the Eastern hellbender, an aquatic salamander living in streams across 15 states, as it was already included in the Endangered Species List in 2021 for hellbenders in Missouri.
The Endangered Species Act lists over 1,300 species as either endangered or threatened in the U.S., providing protection from harm, killing, import, or export. The listing also mandates the development and implementation of population recovery plans.
