A petition to provide Endangered Species Act protection for three crustaceans in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area failed to provide substantial scientific information indicating that protection might be warranted, according to Martin Miller, chief of endangered species for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Northeast Region.
The three crustaceans - Kenk's amphipod, Virginia well amphipod and Acanthocyclops columbiensis, a copepod with no common name - are each less than an inch long and live in groundwater seeps and springs.
The petition requested the Service to place the three crustaceans on the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife on an emergency basis and to classify them as endangered. The Service responded that temporary emergency protection was not warranted. Miller said the Service can invoke emergency protection if a species is in imminent danger of extinction, but, by statute, emergency protection expires after eight months. This protects the species while giving the Service a window of opportunity to complete the formal process of placing it on the List.
Kenk's amphipod is found in six locations in Rock Creek Park in the District. Virginia well amphipod was found historically in Vienna and Alexandria, Va., but the only known site now is on Fort Belvoir property in Virginia. A. columbiensis has been found in Oxon Cove Park in Maryland and in Fort Stanton Park in the District and is expected to be found at additional sites. The petition cited development resulting in habitat loss as a threat to all three species.
Dr. Richard M. Mitchell submitted the petition to provide federal protection for the three crustacean species, and Robert E. Gordon of the National Wilderness Institute provided additional information supporting Mitchell's petition. Although the Service received the petition and supplemental information in 2001 and responded to the request for emergency protection, lack of resources precluded its ability to process the petition for possible endangered protection until this year.
The petition finding was published in the Federal Register today. A copy of the petition is available at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/pdf/threecrustaceans.pdf.
Information about endangered species may be found at http://www.fws.gov/endangered.
Note: An amphipod is a small, laterally compressed crustacean with no shell. It resembles a shrimp. A copepod is a small aquatic crustacean with six pairs of swimming legs; an elongated, segmented body; and a forked tail.


