Vanishing Insects

by Gary A. Dunn, M.S., F.R.E.S., Director of Education

Updated 12/5/04

There are currently 44 insects listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened or endangered in the United States, and they are protected under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act wherever they may be found. The insect species are:

COMMON NAME	SCIENTIFIC NAME	STATUS	RANGE
American burying beetle	Nicrophorus americanus	Endangered	eastern North America
Ash Meadows crawling water bug	Ambrysus amargosus	Threatened	Nevada
Bay checkerspot (butterfly)	Euphydryas editha bayensis	Threatened:	California
Behren's silverspot  (butterfly)	Speyeria zerene behrensii	Endangered	California
Blackburn's sphinx  moth	Manduca blackburni	Endangered	Hawaii
Callippe silverspot  (butterfly)	Speyeria callippe callippe	Endangered	California
Carson wandering skipper	Pseudocopaeodes eunus obscurus	Endangered	Califronia/Nevada
Coffin cave mold beetle	Batrisodes texanus	Endangered:	Texas
Comal Springs dryopid beetle	Stygoparnus comalensis	Endangered	Texas
Comal Springs riffle beetle	Heterelmis comalensis	Endangered	Texas
Delhi sands flower-loving fly	Raphidiomidas terminatus abdominalis	Endangered	California
Delta green ground beetle	Elaphrus viridis	Threatened	California
El Segundo blue butterfly	Euphilotes battoides allyni	Endangered	California
Fender's blue butterfly	Icarioides fenderi	Endangered	Oregon
Ground beetle	Rhadine exilis	Endangered	Texas
Ground beetle	Rhadine infernalis	Endangered	Texas
Helotes cave mold beetle	Batrisodes venyivi	Endangered	Texas
Hine's emerald dragonfly	Somatochlora hineana	Endangered	Great Lakes region
Hungerford's crawling water beetle	Brychius hungerfordi	Endangered	Michigan/Ontario
Karner blue butterfly	Lycaeides melissa samuelis	Endangered	northeastern North America
Kern primrose sphinx moth	Euproserpinus euterpe	Threatened	California
Kretchmarr cave mold beetle	Texamaurops reddelli	Endangered	Texas
Laguna Mountains skipper	Pyrgus ruralis lagunae	Endangered	California
Lange's metalmark (butterfly)	Apodemia mormo langei	Endangered	California
Lotis blue butterfly	Lycaeides argyrognomon lotis	Endangered	California
Mission blue butterfly	Icaricia icarioides missionesis	Endangered	California
Mitchell's satyr (butterfly)	Neonympha mitchellii mitchellii	Endangered	Great Lakes region
Mount Hermon June beetle	Polyphaga barbata	Endangered	California
Myrtle's silverspot (butterfly)	Speyeria zerene myrtleae	Endangered	California
Northeastern beach tiger beetle	Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis	Threatened	northeastern Atlantic coast
Ohlone tiger beetle	Cicindela ohlone	Endangered	California
Oregon silverspot (butterfly)	Speyeria zerene hippolyta	Threatened	Oregon
Palos Verde blue butterfly	Glaucopsyche lygdamus paloverdesensis	Endangered	California
Pawnee montane skipper	Hesperia leonardus montana	Threatened	Colorado
Puritan tiger beetle	Cicindela puritana	Threatened	New England (CT River)
Quino checkerspot (butterfly)	Euphydryas editha quino	Endangered	California
St. Franscis satyr (butterfly)	Neonympha mitchellii francisci	Endangered	North Carolina
San Bruno elfin (butterfly)	Callophrys mossi bayensis	Endangered	California
Schaus swallowtail	Heraclides aristodemus ponceanus	Endangered	Florida
Smith's blue butterfly	Euphilotes enoptes smithi	Endangered	California
Tooth cave ground beetle	Rhadine persephone	Endangered	Texas
Uncomphagre fritillary (butterfly)	Boloria acrocnema	Endangered	Colorado
Valley elderberry longhorn beetle	Desmocerus californicus dimorphus	Threatened	California
Zayante band-winged grasshopper	Trimerotropis infantilis	Endangered	California

Note: An additional 850 insects are listed as endangered, threatened, special concern, rare, or watchlist species by state governments in the United States. (A complete database of these insects can be found in the Member's Clubhouse, available to members only.)

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This educational resource was prepared by the Young Entomologists Society, 6907 West Grand River Ave., Lansing MI 48906-9158, phone/fax 517-886-0630, e-mail YESbugs@aol.com.  Support minibeast youth education - join Y.E.S. today!