[Pollinator] Seven bees in Hawaii added to US endangered species list

[Matthew Shepherd]

Hi folks,



More great news for bees!



Hard on the heels of last week’s announcement about the proposed listing of
the rusty patched bumble bee, today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
published
a final rule
<https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/09/30/2016-23112/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-endangered-status-for-49-species-from-the-hawaiian>
that makes a group of yellow-faced bees in Hawaii the first bees in the
country to be protected under the Endangered Species Act.



The USFWS declaration that seven species of yellow-faced bees (genus
*Hylaeus*) are “endangered” comes after a multi-year effort by the Xerces
Society to gain recognition and protection for these bees. The Society
submitted petitions to the USFWS in March 2009. This final rule comes a
year to the day since the proposed rule was published.



The USFWS decision is excellent news for these bees, but there is much work
that needs to be done to ensure that Hawaii’s bees thrive. There is only
one genus of bees that is native to the Hawaiian Islands, *Hylaeus*,
commonly called yellow-faced bees because of colored markings on their
faces. These bees are often found in small patches of habitat hemmed in by
agricultural land or developments. Unfortunately, the USFWS has not
designated any “critical habitat,” areas of land of particular importance
for the endangered bees.



We want to recognize the work of researcher Karl Magnacca, who has spent
years studying Hawaii’s bees and whose work provided the evidence for these
listings. We also thank photographer John Kaia, whose images have done much
to lift these bees out of obscurity.



An excellent offshoot of the work to protect these bees is the Hylaeus
Project (http://www.lisaschonberg.com/the-hylaeus-project/) of Lisa
Schonberg, drummer, entomologist, and previous Xerces employee, who helped
write the petitions in 2009. Lisa combined her two passions and spent time
observing the bees’ environment, in particular the soundscapes they live
within, and published a book about it and created a series of compositions
for the Secret Drum Band.



See the links below for the Federal Register entry and also some other
information about these bees.



Matthew





The final rule published in the Federal Register, September 30, 2016:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/09/30/2016-23112/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-endangered-status-for-49-species-from-the-hawaiian




Fact sheet produced by Karl Magnacca:

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/uhmg/news/V9-Magnacca-NativeBee.pdf



Species profiles for the seven Hawaiian yellow-faced bees can be accessed
at:

http://www.xerces.org/hawaiian-yellow-faced-bees/



Xerces Blog about the FWS announcement of proposed listing a year ago:
*Hawai‘ian
Yellow-Faced Bees: The First U.S. Bees Proposed for ESA Protection*

http://www.xerces.org/blog/hawaiian-yellow-faced-bees-the-first-u-s-bees-proposed-for-esa-protection/







­----------



Matthew Shepherd

Communications Director



[image: Xerces-logo-CMYK-email_Outlook]



Protecting the Life That Sustains Us



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