90-Day Finding on a Petition To List the Northern Mexican Gartersnake as threatened or Endangered With Critical Habitat (Substantial) and initiation of status review.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list the northern Mexican gartersnake, Thamnophis eques megalops, as threatened or endangered with critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The petitioners provided three listing scenarios for consideration by the Service: (1) Listing the United States population as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS); (2) listing the species throughout its range in the United States and Mexico based on its range-wide status; or (3) listing the species throughout its range in the U.S. and Mexico based on its status in the United States. We find the petition has presented substantial information that the northern Mexican gartersnake is a listable entity, and we find that the petition presents substantial scientific and commercial data indicating that listing may be warranted. Therefore, we are initiating a status review to determine if listing this species is warranted. To ensure that the status review is comprehensive, we are soliciting scientific and commercial information regarding this species. Any determinations on critical habitat will be made if and when a listing action is initiated for this species.