[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 60 (Thursday, March 28, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 18936-18938]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07149]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
50 CFR Part 17
[Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2013-0058; 4500030113]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding
on a Petition To List the Rosemont Talussnail as Endangered or
Threatened
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of 12-month petition finding.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a
12-month finding on a petition to list the Rosemont talussnail as
endangered or threatened and to designate critical habitat under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). After a review of the
best available scientific information, we find that listing the
Rosemont talussnail as an endangered or threatened species is not
warranted, and, therefore, we are removing this species from the
candidate list.
DATES: The finding announced in this document was made on March 28,
2013.
ADDRESSES: This finding is available on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov at Docket Number FWS-R2-ES-2013-0058. Supporting
documentation we used in preparing this finding is available for public
inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona Ecological Services Field Office,
2321 W. Royal Palm Road, Suite 103, Phoenix, AZ 85021. Please submit
any new information, materials, comments, or questions concerning this
finding to the above street address.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Spangle, Field Supervisor, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona Ecological Services Field Office,
2321 W. Royal Palm Road, Suite 103, Phoenix, AZ 85021; telephone 602-
242-0210; facsimile 602-242-2513; email incomingazcorr@fws.gov. If you
use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), please call the
Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) requires
that, for any petition to revise the Federal Lists of Endangered and
Threatened Wildlife and Plants that contains substantial scientific or
commercial information that listing the species may be warranted, we
make a finding within 12 months of the date of receipt of the petition.
In this finding, we will determine that the petitioned action is: (1)
Not warranted, (2) warranted, or (3) warranted, but the immediate
proposal of a regulation implementing the petitioned action is
precluded by other pending proposals to determine whether species are
endangered or threatened, and expeditious progress is being made to add
or remove qualified species from the Federal Lists of Endangered and
Threatened Wildlife and Plants. Section 4(b)(3)(C) of the Act requires
that we treat a petition for which the requested action is found to be
warranted but precluded as though resubmitted on the date of such
finding, that is, requiring a
[[Page 18937]]
subsequent finding to be made within 12 months. We must publish these
12-month findings in the Federal Register.
This section summarizes the information we evaluated in order to
determine that the Rosemont talussnail is not a species or subspecies
and cannot be listed as such under the Act, and to remove it from the
candidate list. Additional material that we relied on is available in
the Species Assessment and Listing Priority Assignment Form for the
Rosemont talussnail. This form is available on our national endangered
species Web site: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/ (search for ``Rosemont
talussnail'' in the Species Search box) or from the Federal eRulemaking
Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, enter FWS-R2-ES-
2013-0058, which is the docket number for this rulemaking.
Previous Federal Actions
On June 24, 2010, we received a petition from the Center for
Biological Diversity requesting that Rosemont talussnail be listed as
endangered or threatened and that critical habitat be designated under
the Act. The petition clearly identified itself as such and included
the requisite identification information for the petitioner required at
50 CFR 424.14(a). Our receipt of the petition coincidentally fell
within the processing period for our candidate notice of review (CNOR)
for Fiscal Year 2010. On November 10, 2010, we included the Rosemont
talussnail in the annual CNOR (75 FR 69222) through our own internal
candidate assessment process and independent of the petition process,
because we had already begun the analysis prior to receiving the
petition. Candidate species are species for which we have sufficient
information on file to support a proposal to list as endangered or
threatened, but for which preparation and publication of a proposal is
precluded by higher priority listing actions. However, because we are
required to address the petition and make the appropriate findings,
even though we already determined the species met the definition of a
candidate species, in that same CNOR, we made a 90-day substantial and
a 12-month warranted-but-precluded finding for the Rosemont talussnail.
In a December 1, 2011, letter, we informed the petitioner that we
had reviewed the information presented in the petition and determined
that issuing an emergency regulation temporarily listing the Rosemont
talussnail under section 4(b)(7) of the Act was not warranted. We
explained that the species had been assigned candidate status. We also
explained that per the Multi-district Litigation Stipulated Settlement
Agreement (WildEarth Guardians v. Salazar, No. 1:10-mc-00377-EGS (D.
DC); Center for Biological Diversity v. Salazar, No. 1:10-mc-00377-EGS
(D.DC)), we are required to submit a proposed rule or a not-warranted
12-month finding to the Federal Register for the Rosemont talussnail in
Fiscal Year 2013, which ends September 30, 2013. This not-warranted 12-
month finding and the associated species assessment form fulfill that
requirement of the Multi-district Litigation Settlement Agreement.
Species Information
The Rosemont talussnail was first described as a member of the
family Helminthoglyptidae (Phylum Mollusca; Class Gastropoda, Subclass
Pulmonata) described by Pilsbry (1939, pp. 348-349) from the northern
end of the Santa Rita Mountains near Rosemont, Pima County, Arizona.
Bequaert and Miller (1973, p. 115) and Turgeon et al. (1988, p. 146)
subsequently recognized the Rosemont talussnail in their respective
reviews of mollusks. However, Hoffman et al. (2012, pp. 310-313)
recently demonstrated that the Rosemont talussnail was described in
error and is actually the same species as the Santa Rita talussnail
(Sonorella walkeri).
Initially, Pilsbry and Ferriss (1923, p. 90) treated the Rosemont
talussnail from the northern end of the Santa Rita Mountains (Station
49 near Rosemont) as Sonorella hesterna .Pilsbry (1939, p. 349) later
described the Rosemont talussnail as a full species, S. rosemontensis,
based on a single shell collected at Station 49 (Ferriss 1917-1918, p.
2; Hoffman et al. 2012, pp. 1-2). However, in his description of S.
rosemontensis, Pilsbry (1939, p. 349) stated, ``It was formerly
considered to be identical with S. hesterna, but the well developed
threads of the embryonic shell apparently indicate a different species.
Were it not for the very different verge [male genitalia], this form
would hardly be separated from S. walkeri.'' Hoffman et al. (2012, p.
309) determined that Pilsbry (1939) confused the shell of the specimen
he dissected with that of S. hesterna, and mistakenly dissected the
gentilia from a different species of Sonorella. Pilsbry (1939, p. 349)
described the genitalia as ``very closely related to S. arida * * *
being of the same general character.'' Based on his writings, Pilsbry
was well aware of the fact that the distinct features of S.
rosemontensis resembled two different known species.
The disparities in reproductive structures described for the
Rosemont talussnail, Sonorella rosemontensis, were first noted in
earnest by Miller (1967, p. 70) where he stated the genitalia
``resemble those of S. walkeri.'' In discussing the Pilsbry (1939)
description, Miller (1967, p. 70) went on to say that, ``It is probable
that he [Pilsbry] dissected a specimen of S. tumamocensis linearis by
mistake.'' Upon examination of genitalia, Miller (1967, p. 70) stated,
``S. rosemontenis is closely related in all respects to S. walkeri.''
These anatomical examinations revealed that the Rosemont talussnail, S.
rosemontensis, closely resembles the Santa Rita talussnail, S. walkeri,
strongly suggesting that the Rosemont talussnail may only be a
subspecies of or the same species as the Santa Rita talussnail (Miller
1967, p. 70; Miller 1978, p. 115). In fact, the drawing of the
reproductive organs of the Rosemont talussnail presented in Miller
(1967, p. 260) does not appear to differ in any significant way from
the reproductive organs of the Santa Rita talussnail (Hoffman et al.
2012, p. 309).
Although it was suggested that the Rosemont talussnail may be a
subspecies of the Santa Rita talussnail (Miller 1967, p. 70; Miller
1978, p. 115), there is no information indicating such. A subspecies is
a category in biological classification that ranks immediately below a
species; it designates a population of a particular geographic region
morphologically or genetically distinguishable from other such
populations of the same species and capable of interbreeding
successfully with them where its range overlaps theirs. Evidence
suggests that the Rosemont and Santa Rita talussnail are simply the
same species. Hoffman et al. (2012, p. 313) found no discernible
differences in the shapes or sizes of the male or female reproductive
organs among specimens, nor was there any discernible differences in
the shape of the shells between the Rosemont talussnail and the Santa
Rita talussnail. Therefore, based on the morphological data and the
sympatric range of the Santa Rita and the Rosemont talussnails, Hoffman
et al. (2012, p. 313) concluded that the Rosemont and Santa Rita
talussnail are the same species.
Evaluation of Listable Entity
Under the Act, a ``species'' is defined as including any subspecies
of fish or wildlife or plants, and any distinct population segment
(DPS) of any species of vertebrate fish or wildlife which interbreeds
when mature (16 U.S.C. 1532(16)).
Based on our review of the best available information, the original
[[Page 18938]]
description of the Rosemont talussnail (previously Sonorella
rosemontensis) was made in error, and the taxonomic entity is actually
the same species as the Santa Rita talussnail (S. walkeri). Therefore,
we conclude that the Rosemont talussnail (S. rosemontensis) is not a
species under section 3(16) of the Act. We have reviewed the relevant
literature, and we also find that the Rosemont talussnail is not a
subspecies of the Santa Rita talussnail. Additionally, invertebrates
are precluded by statute from DPS consideration. Therefore, we conclude
that the petitioned entity does not constitute a listable entity and
cannot be listed under the Act.
Finding
Based on the best scientific and commercial information available,
we find that the Rosemont talussnail is not a listable entity and
cannot be listed under the Act. The Rosemont talussnail (Sonorella
rosemontensis) was subsumed into the Santa Rita talussnail (S.
walkeri), which is a widespread and common species whose distribution
extends across southern Arizona from the Santa Rita and Atascosa
Mountain Ranges in Santa Cruz County; the Whetstone Mountains of
Cochise County; and south into Sonora, Mexico (Pilsbry and Ferris 1915,
p. 395; Bequaert and Miller 1973, p. 115; Arizona Game and Fish
Department 2008, p. 2). Please submit any new information concerning
the status of, or threats to, the Santa Rita talussnail to our Arizona
Ecological Services Field Office (see ADDRESSES) whenever it becomes
available. New information will help us monitor the Santa Rita
talussnail and encourage its conservation.
References Cited
A complete list of references cited is available on the Internet at
http://www.regulations.gov at Docket Number FWS-R2-ES-2013-0058, in the
Species Assessment and Listing Priority Assignment Form on the Internet
at http://www.fws.gov/endangered/, and upon request from the Arizona
Ecological Services Field Office (see ADDRESSES).
Authors
The primary authors of this notice are the staff members of the
Arizona Ecological Services Field Office.
Authority
The authority for this section is section 4 of the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Dated: March 15, 2013.
Rowan W. Gould,
Deputy Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2013-07149 Filed 3-27-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P