Monarch Species Assesment and Listing Priority Assignment
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U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE SPECIES ASSESSMENT AND LISTING PRIORITY ASSIGNMENT FORM SCIENTIFIC NAME: Danaus plexippus COMMON NAME: Monarch butterfly LEAD REGION: IR3 DATE INFORMATION CURRENT AS OF: 09/17/2020 STATUS/ACTION Species assessment - determined either we do not have sufficient information on threats or the information on the threats does not support a proposal to list the species and, therefore, it was not elevated to Candidate status Listed species petitioned for uplisting for which we have made a warranted-but-precluded finding for uplisting (this is part of the annual resubmitted petition finding) Candidate that received funding for a proposed listing determination; assessment not updated _X_ New candidate Continuing candidate Listing priority number change Former LPN: New LPN: Candidate removal: Former LPN: A – Taxon is more abundant or widespread than previously believed or not subject to the degree of threats sufficient to warrant issuance of a proposed listing or continuance of candidate status. U – Taxon not subject to the degree of threats sufficient to warrant issuance of a proposed listing or continuance of candidate status due, in part or totally, to conservation efforts that remove or reduce the threats to the species. F – Range is no longer a U.S. territory. I – Insufficient information exists on taxonomy, or biological vulnerability and threats, to support listing. 1 M – Taxon mistakenly included in past notice of review. N – Taxon does not meet the Act’s definition of “species.” X – Taxon believed to be extinct. Date when the species first became a Candidate (as currently defined): NA Petition Information: Non-petitioned _X_ Petitioned; Date petition received: August 26, 2014 90-day substantial finding FR publication date: December 31, 2014 12-month warranted but precluded finding FR publication date: NA FOR PETITIONED CANDIDATE SPECIES: a. Is listing warranted (if yes, see summary of threats below)? Yes b. To date, has publication of a proposal to list been precluded by other higher priority listing actions? NA c. Why is listing precluded? Higher priority listing actions, including court-approved settlements, court-ordered and statutory deadlines for petition findings and listing determinations, emergency listing determinations, and responses to litigation, preclude the proposed and final listing rules for this species. We continue to monitor populations and will change its status or implement an emergency listing if necessary. The “Progress on Revising the Lists” section of the current CNOR (http://endangered.fws.gov/) provides information on listing actions taken during the last 12 months. PREVIOUS FEDERAL ACTIONS On August 26, 2014, we received a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and Dr. Lincoln Brower, requesting that we list the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) as a threatened species under the Act. On December 31, 2014, we published a 90-day finding that the petition presented substantial scientific or commercial information, indicating that listing the monarch butterfly may be warranted (79 FR 78775). ANIMAL/PLANT GROUP AND FAMILY: Insects, Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies) HISTORICAL STATES/TERRITORIES/COUNTRIES OF OCCURRENCE United States: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, 2 Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming United States territories: American Samoa, Guam, Johnston Atoll, U.S. Virgin Islands Other countries or island groups: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Commonwealth of Australia, Azores, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Nation of Brunei, Canada, Canary Islands, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Republic of Fiji, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Republic of Indonesia, Jamaica, Republic of Kiribati, Madeira, Malaysia, Marquesas Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Martinique, Republic of Mauritius, Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Montserrat, Morocco, Republic of Nauru, Nicaragua, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Republic of Palau, Independent State of Papua New Guinea, Panama, Peru, Republic of the Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Réunion, Saba, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, Spain, Society Islands, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Kingdom of Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands CURRENT STATES/COUNTIES/TERRITORIES/COUNTRIES OF OCCURRENCE United States: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming United States territories: American Samoa, Guam, Johnston Atoll, U.S. Virgin Islands Other countries or island groups: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Commonwealth of Australia, Azores, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Nation of Brunei, Canada, Canary Islands, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Republic of Fiji, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Republic of Indonesia, Jamaica, Republic of Kiribati, Madeira, Malaysia, Marquesas Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Martinique, Republic of Mauritius, Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Montserrat, Morocco, Republic of Nauru, Nicaragua, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Republic of Palau, Independent State of Papua New Guinea, Panama, Peru, Republic of the Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Réunion, Saba, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, 3 Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, Spain, Society Islands, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Kingdom of Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands Figure 1. Global range (shown in orange) of monarch. LAND OWNERSHIP The monarch is wide-ranging across multiple continents. It occurs on both public and private lands; however, we are unable to provide a percentage of occupancy on any specific land-type. LEAD REGION CONTACT: Barbara Hosler, Interior Region 3, (517) 351-6326, [email protected] LEAD FIELD OFFICE CONTACT: NA BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION The Monarch (Danaus plexippus) Species Status Assessment Report, Version 2.0 is a summary of the information assembled and reviewed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and incorporates the best scientific and commercial information available for the species. Excerpts from the SSA Report are provided in the sections below. For more detailed information, please refer to the SSA report (Service 2020, entire). Species Description Adult monarch butterflies are large and conspicuous, with bright orange wings surrounded by a black border and covered with black veins. The black border has a double row of white spots, present on the upper side and lower side of forewings and hindwings (Bouseman and Sternburg 2001, p. 222). Adult monarchs are sexually dimorphic, with males having narrower wing venation and scent patches (CEC 2008, p.11; Figure 2). The bright coloring of a monarch serves as a warning to predators that eating them can be toxic (referred to as aposematism). 4 Figure 2. Male monarch on milkweed. Note the arrow pointing to one of the two black dots on the hind wings. These are not present on female monarchs. Photo by Tim Koerner, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Taxonomy The petition that the Service received in 2014 was for listing a subspecies of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) (Center for Biological Diversity et al. 2014, p. 4). The petition also requested a determination of whether any new North American subspecies of Danaus plexippus should be listed. After careful examination of the literature and consultation with experts, there is no clearly agreed upon definition of potential subspecies of Danaus plexippus or where the geographic borders between these subspecies might exist. Given these findings, we examined the entire range of Danaus plexippus. For more information on taxonomy, see Appendix