[Pollinator] Island Marble Butterfly: Slipping Towards Extinction

[Matthew Shepherd]

Today, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced that
the island marble butterfly <http://www.xerces.org/island-marble/> (*Euchloe
ausonides insulanus*) is in danger of extinction but that protection under
the Endangered Species Act is “precluded by higher priority listing
actions.” The Service declined to grant this butterfly protection through
an emergency listing process, as requested in a 2012 petition filed by the
Xerces Society
<http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/island-marble-petition.pdf>,
despite recognizing that there is only one remaining population of the
island marble butterfly. Rather, this species was placed on a list of
candidate species, which do not receive any of the same protections as ESA
listed species.



Sarina Jepsen, endangered species program director, said, “We are very
disappointed that the protection of the island marble has not been
prioritized. This is perhaps the most endangered species I’ve ever worked
with. After a decade of falling numbers, this butterfly survives at only
one site—and yet our public agency that is responsible for safeguarding
wildlife has failed to recognize the urgency of this species’ situation.”



Read more on our blog,
http://www.xerces.org/blog/island-marble-butterfly-slipping-towards-extinction/



Matthew



________



*Matthew Shepherd*

Communications Director



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