List of Endangered Butterflies

This is a list of the butterflies declared endangered all over the world.

Behren's Silverspot (Speyeria zerene behrensii)

Callippe Silverspot (Speyeria callippe callippe)

El Segundo Blue (Euphilotes battoides allyni)

Fender's Blue (Icaricia icarioides fenderi)

Karner Blue (Lycaeides melissa samuelis)

Lange's Metalmark (Apodemia mormo langei)

Lotis Blue (Lycaeides argyrognomon lotis)

Mission Blue (Icaricia icarioides missionensis)

Mitchell's Satyr (Neonympha mitchellii mitchellii)

Myrtle's Silverspot (Speyeria zerene myrtleae)

Palos Verdes Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis)

Quino Checkerspot (Euphydryas editha quino (=E. e. wrighti))

Saint Francis' Satyr (Neonympha mitchellii francisci)

San Bruno Elfin (Callophrys mossii bayensis)

Schaus Swallowtail (Heraclides (=Papilio) aristodemus ponceanus)

Smith's Blue (Euphilotes enoptes smithi)

Uncompahgre Fritillary (Boloria acrocnema)
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Bluefin Tuna Escape Endangered Listing

Bluefin tuna has not been placed on the endangered list but is now listed as a "species of concern" by American fisheries' federal agency.

When the Centre for Biological Diversity submitted an appeal for the listing of bluefin tuna as an endangered species, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conducted extensive scientific reviews and concluded that the bluefin tuna at present does not require protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Bluefin tuna is popular among fishermen and sushi lovers.  Oil spills and overfishing has been blamed for the Centre of Biological Diversity's fears on the possible extinction of the species.

The NOAA will investigate the status of the bluefin tuna again in 2013.

It has been said by the CBD that the bluefin tuna populations have fallen over 80 percent in the past 40 years, hence their concerns.

New Top Ten New Species Discovered in 2010

The International Institute for Species Exploration unveiled its top ten new species discovered in 2010 list.

The species on this list include the following:

Darwin's Bark Spider -Caerostris darwini -

Bioluminescent Mushroom -Mycena luxaeterna - Eternal Light Mushroom

Bacterium - Halomonas titanicae

Monitor Lizard -Varanus bitatawa -Sierra Madre Forest Monitor or Golden Spotted Monitor

Pollinating Cricket -Glomeremus orchidophilus

Duiker -Philantomba walteri - Walter's Duiker

Leech - Tyrannobdella rex

Underwater Mushroom -Psathyrella aquatica - Rogue Mushroom

Jumping Cockroach - Saltoblattella montistabularis - leaproach

Pancake Batfish - Halieutichthys intermedius - the Louisania Pancake Batfish

The full report with photographs and descriptions can be found at IISE's website.

Asian Countries Unable to Stop Trade in Bear Bile - TRAFFIC report

The Bear Bile Business Anti smuggling groups have stated that Asian countries are failing to prevent cross border trade in bear bile.

There are only about 25 000 Asiatic black bears these days and their numbers are dwindling due to poaching in order to obtain the highly valuable bear bile for traditional medicine use.

More than 50% of traditional medicine stores in China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Burma have been found to have bear bile based traditional medicines in stock over the past year, as reported by TRAFFIC's published report at http://www.traffic.org/ .