Officials Consider Adding 10 Species to Endangered List, Including Big Bumble Bee

January 25th, 10:00 AM EST

By NEWSnet Digital Team

Endangered species.

MGN via Pixabay / marneejill / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0

MADISON, Wis. (NEWSnet/AP) — Federal wildlife officials will consider adding 10 new species to the Endangered Species Act, including a big bumble bee that serves as a key pollinator throughout the United States.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said they had completed 90-day reviews of petitions to add the species to the list. The finding triggers reviews of a species' status.

One of the more prominent species up for consideration is the Southern Plains bumble bee, a large, black-and-yellow bee that inhabits open prairies, meadows and grasslands in Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Plains states.

Queen bees can grow as large as an inch. Workers can grow to as large as three-quarters of an inch.

In 2022, Center for Biological Diversity petitioned U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to include the bee on the endangered list. According to the center, habitat loss, degradation and use of pesticide have led to population decline.

Other species under review include betta hendra and betta rutilans, freshwater fish found in Borneo; Hickory Nut Gorge salamander, an amphibian found in western North Carolina; pygmy rabbit, found in mountainous areas of the western U.S.; and Railroad Valley toad, which lives in wetlands of Lockes Wildlife Management Area in Nye County, Nevada.

More than 1,300 species are listed as either endangered or threatened in the U.S.

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