WildEarth Guardians

Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Feds Deny Protection to Rare Grand Canyon Invertebrate

Grand Canyon Pseudoscorpion Last seen in 1978
Contact: Mark Salvo (503) 757-4221

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that it will not protect the Grand Canyon pseudoscorpion under the Endangered Species Act, despite the fact that only one individual has ever been found of the species in 1978.

 “What is an endangered species, if not one that hasn’t been seen in three decades?” said Mark Salvo, Director of the Sagebrush Sea Campaign for WildEarth Guardians.

Pseudoscorpions are tiny arachnids bearing large claws, but lacking a stinger.  At 3.03 millimeters, the Grand Canyon cave pseudoscorpion is larger than other pseudoscorpions. The Grand Canyon pseudoscorpion was found in the Cave of the Domes in Grand Canyon National Park. The species may be endemic to the cave.

NatureServe, an authority on North American flora and fauna, ranks the Grand Canyon pseudoscorpion as “critically imperiled.” WildEarth Guardians petitioned to list the species as “threatened” or “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act in 2007 as part of a mass petition to protect 475 imperiled species throughout the Southwest. The Fish and Wildlife Service initially found that the pseudoscorpion may warrant listing, but reported today that it lacks sufficient information on the species and threats to its habitat to add it to the threatened and endangered list.