Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species Status for the Bleached Sandhill Skipper

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the bleached sandhill skipper (Polites sabuleti sinemaculata), an insect subspecies from Humboldt County, Nevada, as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This determination also serves as our 12-month finding on a petition to list the bleached sandhill skipper. After a review of the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the subspecies is warranted. Accordingly, we propose to list the bleached sandhill skipper as an endangered species under the Act. If we finalize this rule as proposed, the final rule would add this subspecies to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and extend the Act's protections to the subspecies. We find that a designation of critical habitat for the bleached sandhill skipper is not determinable at this time.