Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species Status for the Fluminense Swallowtail Butterfly, Harris' Mimic Swallowtail Butterfly, and Hahnel's Amazonian Swallowtail Butterfly

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR <SUBAGY>Fish and Wildlife Service</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Part 17</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FWS-HQ-ES-2023-0067; FXES1111090FEDR-256-FF09E21000]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 1018-BG69</RIN> <SUBJECT>Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species Status for the Fluminense Swallowtail Butterfly, Harris' Mimic Swallowtail Butterfly, and Hahnel's Amazonian Swallowtail Butterfly</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), determine endangered species status under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), as amended, for three butterflies endemic to Brazil: the Fluminense swallowtail ( <E T="03">Parides ascanius</E> ), Harris' mimic swallowtail ( <E T="03">Eurytides</E> (= <E T="03">Mimoides</E> ) <E T="03">lysithous harrisianus</E> ), and Hahnel's Amazonian swallowtail ( <E T="03">Parides hahneli</E> ). This rule extends the Act's protections to these species. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This rule is effective January 9, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> This final rule, comments and materials we received on the proposed rule, and supporting materials that we used in preparing this rule, such as the species status assessment report, are available at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> at Docket No. FWS-HQ-ES-2023-0067. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Rachel London, Manager, Branch of Delisting and Foreign Species, Ecological Services Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: ES, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803; telephone 703-358-2171. Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services offered within their country to make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Previous Federal Actions</HD> Please refer to the proposed listing rule (88 FR 48414, July 27, 2023) for the Fluminense swallowtail butterfly, Harris' mimic swallowtail butterfly, and Hahnel's Amazonian swallowtail butterfly for a detailed description of previous Federal actions concerning these species. Hereafter in this document, we will abbreviate their common names by removing the word “butterfly” and referring to these species as “swallowtails.” <HD SOURCE="HD1">Peer Review</HD> A species status assessment (SSA) team prepared an SSA report for the Fluminense swallowtail, Harris' mimic swallowtail, and Hahnel's Amazonian swallowtail. The SSA team was composed of Service biologists, in consultation with other species experts. The SSA report represents a compilation of the best scientific and commercial data available concerning the status of the species, including the impacts of past, present, and future factors (both negative and beneficial) affecting the species. In accordance with our joint policy on peer review published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> on July 1, 1994 (59 FR 34270), and our August 22, 2016, memorandum updating and clarifying the role of peer review in listing actions under the Act, we solicited independent scientific review of the information contained in the Fluminense swallowtail, Harris' mimic swallowtail, and Hahnel's Amazonian swallowtail SSA report. As discussed in the proposed rule, we sent the SSA report to seven independent peer reviewers and received four responses. The peer reviews can be found at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> In preparing the proposed rule, we incorporated the results of these reviews, as appropriate, into the SSA report, which was the foundation for the proposed rule and this final rule. A summary of the peer review comments and our responses can be found in the proposed rule (88 FR 48414). <HD SOURCE="HD1">Summary of Changes From the Proposed Rule</HD> In preparing this final rule, we reviewed and fully considered all public comments received during the comment period, and we make no substantive changes from the July 27, 2023, proposed rule (88 FR 48414). We considered all relevant references provided by commenters in our final determination and incorporated them into this final rule (see <E T="03">Habitat Loss and Degradation</E> and <E T="03">Capture,</E> below). <HD SOURCE="HD1">Summary of Comments and Recommendations</HD> In the proposed rule published on July 27, 2023 (88 FR 48414), we requested that all interested parties submit written comments on the proposal by September 25, 2023. We also contacted appropriate Federal agencies, scientific experts and organizations, range country CITES authorities and other appropriate agencies, and other interested parties and invited them to comment on the proposal. We did not receive any requests for a public hearing. All substantive information received during the comment period has either been incorporated directly into this final determination or is addressed below. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Public Comments</HD> <E T="03">(1) Comment:</E> One commenter suggested that the length of time between when we were petitioned to list the three swallowtails in 1994 and the proposed listing in 2023 is too long, particularly because we had determined the species warranted listing in 1994 but was precluded by other priorities. <E T="03">Our response:</E> We recognize the length of time between first making the three Brazilian swallowtails candidate species and this final listing rule. For more information on our process and progress making listing decisions with foreign species, see the most recently published annual review of candidate species, annual notification of findings on resubmitted petitions, and description of progress on listing actions (88 FR 41560; June 27, 2023). <E T="03">(2) Comment:</E> One commenter claims there is not sufficient evidence and data to list the three swallowtails. <E T="03">Our response:</E> We are required to make our determination based on the best scientific and commercial data available at the time of our rulemaking. We considered the best scientific and commercial data available regarding the Fluminense swallowtail, Harris' mimic swallowtail, and Hahnel's Amazonian swallowtail to evaluate their status under the Act. We solicited peer review of our evaluation of the available data, and our peer reviewers supported our analysis. Science is a cumulative process, and the body of knowledge is ever-growing. In light of this, the Service will always take new research into consideration. <E T="03">(3) Comment:</E> One commenter claims the Service needs to assess the economic impact of listing and designating critical habitat for the three swallowtails. <E T="03">Our response:</E> The Act requires us to use the best scientific and commercial data available in our listing determinations. The Act does not allow us to consider the impacts of listing on economics or human activities over the short term, long term, or cumulatively. No critical habitat will be designated for the Fluminense swallowtail, Harris' mimic swallowtail, nor Hahnel's Amazonian swallowtail. Under our regulations at 50 CFR 424.12(g), we do not designate critical habitat within foreign countries or in areas outside the jurisdiction of the United States. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Final Listing Determination</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">Taxonomy and Physical Description</HD> The Fluminense swallowtail, Harris' mimic swallowtail, and Hahnel's Amazonian swallowtail are all butterflies belonging to the Papilonidae family. Swallowtail butterflies get their name from extended tails on their hindwings; however, not all swallowtails possess this feature. The Fluminense swallowtail ( <E T="03">Parides ascanius</E> ) and Hahnel's Amazonian swallowtail ( <E T="03">Parides hahneli</E> ) are both full species in the multi-species genus <E T="03">Parides</E> (Tyler et al. 1994, pp. 179, 185; Racheli and Olmisani 1998, p. 126; Racheli et al. 2006, pp. 73, 77; Bánki et al. 2022, unpaginated). The Harris's mimic swallowtail, <E T="03">Eurytides</E> (= <E T="03">Mimoides or Graphium</E> ) <E T="03">lysithous harrisianus</E> (Swainson 1822), is a subspecies of <E T="03">E.</E> (= <E T="03">M.</E> ) <E T="03">lysithou</E> s (D'Abrera 1981 and D'Almeida 1966 as cited in Collins and Morris 1985, p. 208; Zhang et al. 2019, p. 3). All three swallowtails are endemic to Brazil. The Fluminense swallowtail is a black-white-and-red butterfly with a 45-millimeter (mm) (1.77-inch (in)) wingspan (Otero and Brown 1984, p. 2). Mimicking the Fluminense swallowtail, Harris' mimic swallowtail is a similar-looking medium-sized black-white-and-red butterfly with narrow and relatively short tails (Collins and Morris 1985, p. 208). Hahnel's Amazonian swallowtail is a large black-and-yellow butterfly with a wingspan of 80-100 mm (3.14-3.93 in) (Collins and Morris 1985, p. 242). <HD SOURCE="HD2">Fluminense Swallowtail Ecology</HD> The Fluminense swallowtail, endemic to sand forests or “restingas,” currently occupies an estimated 36 to 288 square kilometers (km <SU>2</SU> ) of sparse habitat fragments across the swampy coastal forests of the State of Rio de Janeiro and the southern part of the State of Espírito Santo (Soares et al. 2011, p. 69; Seraphim et al. 2016, p. 534; H. Grice et al. 2019b, p. 2; Almeida 2023, unpaginated; Brant 2023, pers. comm.; Rosa et al. 2023, p. 8). Larvae feed exclusively on pipevine (also known as Dutchman's pipe) ( <E T="03">Aristolochia trilobata</E> ), which grows primarily in ri ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 64k characters. 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