Federally Listed Threatened and Endangered Species that occur in Georgia

Mammals (5) Gray bat (Myotis grisescens) E Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) E West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) E Northern right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) E ** Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) E ** Amphibians and Reptiles (8) Frosted flatwoods salamander (Ambystoma cingulatum) T Reticulated flatwoods salamander (Ambystoma bishopi) E Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) T Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) T Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) E Kemp’s ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) E Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) E Eastern Indigo snake (Drymarchon corais couperi) T

Fishes (8) Amber darter (Percina antesella) E Blue shiner (Cyprinella caerulea) T Cherokee darter (Etheostoma scotti) T Conasauga logperch (Percina jenkinsi) E Etowah darter (Etheostoma etowahae) E Goldline darter (Percina aurolineata) E Shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) E ** Snail darter (Percina tanasi) T Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) E **

Invertebrates (13) Alabama moccasinshell (Medionidus acutissimus) T Altamaha spinymussel (Elliptio spinosa) E Coosa moccasinshell (Medionidus parvulus) E Fat three-ridge (Amblema neislerii) E Finelined pocketbook (Hamiota altilis) T Georgia pigtoe (Pleurobema hanleyianum) E Gulf moccasinshell (Medionidus pencillatus) E Oval pigtoe (Pleurobema pyriforme) E Purple bankclimber (Elliptoideus sloatianus) T Shinyrayed pocketbook (Hamiota subangulata) E Southern clubshell (Pleurobema decisum) E Triangular kidneyshell (Ptychobranchus greenii) E Interrupted rocksnail (Leptoxis foremani) E

Birds (3) Piping plover (Charadrius melodus) T, E Red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) E Wood stork (Mycteria americana) E Plants (24) Alabama leather flower (Clematis socialis) E American chaffseed (Schwalbea americana) E Black-spored quillwort (Isoetes melanospora) E Canby’s dropwort (Oxypolis canbyi) E Cooley’s meadowrue (Thalictrum cooleyi) E Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia) E Fringed campion (Silene polypetala) E Green pitcherplant (Sarracenia oreophila) E Hairy rattleweed (Baptisia arachnifera) E Harperella (Ptilimnium nodosum) E Kral’s water-plantain (Sagittaria secundifolia) T Large-flowered skullcap (Scutellaria montana) T Little amphianthus (Amphianthus pusillus) T Mat-forming quillwort (Isoetes tegetiformans) E Michaux’s sumac (Rhus michauxii) E Mohr’s Barbara button (Marshallia mohrii) T Persistent trillium (Trillium reliquum) E Pondberry (Lindera melissifolia) E Relict trillium (Trillium reliquum) E Small-whorled pogonia (Isotria medeoloides) T Smooth coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) E Swamp pink (Helonias bullata) T Tennessee Yellow-eyed grass (Xyris tennesseensis) E Virginia spiraea (Spiraea virginiana) T ** Species primarily under the jurisdiction of the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Fish and Wildlife Service has primary responsibility for the remaining species. E

Species is considered Endangered.

T Species is considered Threatened. Both Threatened and Endangered species are afforded the same level of protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER Scientific Name: Picoides borealis Family: Picidae State Legal Status: Endangered (since 1970) Federal Legal Status: Endangered

Description: The red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) is black and white with a ladder back and large white cheek patches. These cheek patches distinguish redcockaded woodpeckers from all other woodpeckers in their range. The chest is dull white with small black spots, and the total length is about 20 cm (8 in). Adult males have a tiny patch of red feathers (cockade) behind the eye, but the cockade is not in full display unless the bird is excited. Habitat: The red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) is an endemic species of fire-maintained, open, old growth pine ecosystems of the southeastern United States. RCWs occur in loblolly and other pines in the Piedmont regions, but old-growth longleaf pine of the Coastal Plain is their primary habitat. The longleaf pine ecosystem has been reduced rangewide to 3% of its original expanse due to development, short-rotation pine-silviculture, fire suppression, and urbanization and other land uses that are incompatible with RCW survival. Because of its very specific habitat requirements, (open, mature pine woodlands and savannahs maintained by frequent fire) RCWs cannot adapt to such dramatic landscape alterations. The result has been a drastic decline in RCW populations by approximately 99% of the estimated abundance at the time of European settlement. Besides supporting the RCW, the longleaf pine ecosystem is also important as habitat for hundreds of other rare plants and animals such as the gopher tortoise, eastern indigo snake, northern bobwhite quail, Bachman’s sparrow, Henslow‘s sparrow, and Sherman’s fox squirrel. Nesting, roosting, foraging: RCWs excavate cavities for roosting and nesting only in older living pines. They live in family “groups” that typically consist of a breeding pair and 1 to 4 helpers that help assist in raising young birds each spring. Each member of the group roosts in a separate cavity, with one becoming the nesting cavity. The aggregate of cavity trees used by a group is called a “cluster.” Each RCW group needs about 120-200 acres of nearby mature, pine forest where they forage for mostly for insects. Current Status and trends: Currently, RCW populations are stable to increasing, due to active management on areas with enough longleaf pine habitat to support RCWs. Active management techniques on these larger properties include construction of artificial nest cavities; translocation of birds; and intense habitat management with thinning, burning, midstory vegetation control, and conversion to longleaf pine on suitable sites. The military installations throughout the southeast, in particular, have worked cooperatively with the Fish and Wildlife Service, to increase funding and management for RCWs and thus play a substantial role in the recovery and continuing conservation of RCWs. In Georgia, active RCW management is occurring Fort Stewart, Fort Benning, Fort Gordon, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, Oconee National Forest, and the Red Hills quail plantations in Southwest Georgia. References: Georgia Department of Natural Resources. (undated). A Conservation Plan for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in Georgia. U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2006. Red cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) Fact Sheet. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 2003. Red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) Recovery Plan.

GRAY BAT Scientific name: Myotis grisescens Family: Vespertilionidae State Legal Status: Endangered Federal Legal Status: Endangered (1976)

Description: Gray bats are distinguished from other bats by the unicolored fur on their back. In addition, following their molt in July or August, gray bats have dark gray fur which often bleaches to a chestnut brown or russet. They weigh 7-16 grams. The bat's wing membrane connects to its ankle instead of at the toe, where it is connected in other species of Myotis. Habitat: With rare exceptions, gray bats live in caves year-round. During the winter gray bats hibernate in deep, vertical caves. In the summer, they roost in caves which are scattered along rivers. The gray bat is found in the northwest portion of Georgia, in limestone karst areas. They do not use houses or barns. Feeding Habits: The bats eat a variety of flying aquatic and terrestrial insects present along rivers and lakes. Current Status and Trends: Gray bats are endangered largely because they tend to live in very large numbers in only a few caves. Both commercialization and flooding of the caves are major threats to the bats. Even if the bats escape the flood, they have difficulty finding a new cave that is suitable. As a result, they are extremely vulnerable to disturbance. Arousing bats while they are hibernating can cause them to use up a lot of energy, which lowers their energy reserves. If a bat runs out of reserves, it may leave the cave too soon and die. In June and July, when flightless young are present, human disturbance can lead to mortality as frightened females drop their young in the panic to flee from the intruder. Gray bats may be susceptible to white nose syndrome (WNS), a disease that is affecting hibernating bats throughout the country and was recently detected in northwest Georgia. Named for the white fungus Geomyces destructans that appears in the muzzle and other body parts of the bats, WNS is associated with extensive mortality of bats in eastern North America. First documented in New York in the winter of 2006-2007, WNS has spread rapidly across the eastern United States and Canada, and the fungus that causes WNS has been detected as far west as Oklahoma. Bats with WNS exhibit uncharacteristic behavior during cold winter months, including flying outside in the day and clustering near the entrances of hibernacula. Bats have been found sick and dying in unprecedented numbers in and around caves and mines. WNS has killed more than 5.5 million bats in the Northeast and Canada. In some hibernacula, 90100 percent of bats have died. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has developed a recovery plan that describes actions needed to help the bat survive, and a variety of government and private conservation agencies are all working together to preserve gray bats and their caves.

Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta) FAMILY: Cheloniidae STATUS: The loggerhead sea turtle was initially listed as threatened throughout its range (Federal Register, July 28, 1978). On September 22, 2011, the listing was revised from a single global threatened species to a listing of nine Distinct Population Segments (DPS); four listed as threatened (Northwest Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, Southwest Indian Ocean, Southeast Indo-Pacific Ocean, and South Atlantic Ocean DPSs) and five listed as endangered (Northeast Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, North Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, and North Indian Ocean DPSs). DESCRIPTION: The loggerhead is characterized by a large head with blunt jaws. The carapace and flippers are a reddish-brown color; the plastron is yellow. The carapace has five pairs of costal scutes with the first touching the nuchal scute. There are three large inframarginal scutes on each of the bridges between the plastron and carapace. Adults grow to an average weight of about 200 pounds and an average length of 3 feet. The species feeds on mollusks, crustaceans, fish, and other marine animals. HABITAT: The loggerhead is widely distributed within its range. It may be found hundreds of miles out to sea, as well as in inshore areas such as bays, lagoons, salt marshes, creeks, ship channels, and the mouths of large rivers. Coral reefs, rocky places, and ship wrecks are often used as feeding areas. Nesting occurs mainly on open beaches or along narrow bays having suitable sand, and it is often in association with other species of sea turtles. Most loggerhead hatchlings originating from U.S. beaches are believed to lead a pelagic existence in the North Atlantic gyre for an extended period of time, perhaps as long as 7 to 12 years, and are best known from the eastern Atlantic near the Azores and Madeira. Post-hatchlings have been found floating at sea in association with Sargassum rafts. Once they reach a certain size, these juvenile loggerheads begin recruiting to coastal areas in the western Atlantic where they become benthic feeders in lagoons, estuaries, bays, river mouths, and shallow coastal waters. These juveniles occupy coastal feeding grounds for about 13 to 20 years before maturing and making their first reproductive migration, the females returning to their natal beach to nest. CRITICAL HABITAT: None designated. REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT: The U.S. nesting season occurs from April through September, with a peak in June and July. Nesting occurs primarily at night. Loggerheads are known to nest from one to seven times within a nesting season (mean is about 4.1 nests per season) at intervals of approximately 14 days. Mean clutch size varies from about 100 to 126 along the southeastern U.S. coast. Incubation duration ranges from about 42 to 75 days, depending on incubation temperatures, but averages 55-60 days for most clutches in Florida. Hatchlings generally emerge at night. Remigration intervals of 2 to 3 years are most common in nesting loggerheads, but remigration can vary from 1 to 7 years. Age at sexual maturity is believed to be about 32 to 35 years. RANGE AND POPULATION LEVEL: The loggerhead occurs throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. However, the majority of loggerhead nesting is at the western rims of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The most recent reviews show that only two loggerhead nesting aggregations have greater than 10,000 females nesting per year: South Florida (U.S.) and Masirah (Oman). Those nesting aggregations with 1,000 to 9,999 females nesting each year are Georgia through North Carolina (U.S.), Quintana Roo and Yucatán (Mexico), Brazil, Cape Verde Islands (Cape Verde, eastern Atlantic off Africa), and Western Australia (Australia). Smaller nesting aggregations with 100 to 999 nesting females annually occur in the Northern Gulf of Mexico (U.S.), Dry Tortugas (U.S.), Cay Sal Bank (The Bahamas), Tongaland (South Africa), Mozambique, Arabian Sea Coast (Oman), Halaniyat Islands (Oman), Cyprus, Peloponnesus (Greece), Island of Zakynthos (Greece), Turkey, Queensland (Australia), and Japan. Loggerheads nest within the U.S. from Texas to Virginia, although the largest nesting concentrations are found in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. About 80 percent of loggerhead nesting in the southeastern U.S. occurs in six Florida counties (Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, and Broward Counties). Total estimated nesting in the U.S. has fluctuated between 47,000 and 90,000 nests each year over the past two decades. Adult loggerheads are known to make considerable migrations between foraging areas and nesting beaches. During non-nesting years, adult females from U.S. beaches are distributed in waters off the eastern U.S. and throughout the Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and Yucatan. Five recovery units have been identified in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean DPS based on genetic differences and a combination of geographic distribution of nesting densities, geographic separation, and geopolitical boundaries. Recovery units are subunits of a listed species that are geographically or otherwise identifiable and essential to the recovery of the species. Recovery units are individually necessary to conserve genetic robustness, demographic robustness, important life history stages, or some other feature necessary for long-term sustainability of the species. The five recovery units identified in the Northwest Atlantic are: (1) Northern

Recovery Unit - defined as loggerheads originating from nesting beaches from the Florida-Georgia border through southern Virginia (the northern extent of the nesting range); (2) Peninsula Florida Recovery Unit - defined as loggerheads originating from nesting beaches from the Florida-Georgia border through Pinellas County on the west coast of Florida, excluding the islands west of Key West, Florida; (3) Dry Tortugas Recovery Unit - defined as loggerheads originating from nesting beaches throughout the islands located west of Key West, Florida; (4) Northern Gulf of Mexico Recovery Unit - defined as loggerheads originating from nesting beaches from Franklin County on the northwest Gulf coast of Florida through Texas; and (5) Greater Caribbean Recovery Unit - composed of loggerheads originating from all other nesting assemblages within the Greater Caribbean (Mexico through French Guiana, The Bahamas, Lesser Antilles, and Greater Antilles). REASONS FOR CURRENT STATUS: Threats include loss or degradation of nesting habitat from coastal development and beach armoring; disorientation of hatchlings by beachfront lighting; nest predation by native and non-native predators; degradation of foraging habitat; marine pollution and debris; watercraft strikes; disease; and incidental take from channel dredging and commercial trawling, longline, and gill net fisheries. There is particular concern about the extensive incidental take of juvenile loggerheads in the eastern Atlantic by longline fishing vessels from several countries. MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION: In the southeastern U.S., major nest protection efforts and beach habitat protection are underway for most of the significant nesting areas, and significant progress has been made in reducing mortality from commercial fisheries in U.S. waters with the enforcement of turtle excluder device regulations. Many coastal counties and communities in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina have developed lighting ordinances to reduce hatchling disorientations. Important U.S. nesting beaches have been and continue to be acquired for long-term protection. The migratory nature of loggerheads severely compromises these efforts once they move outside U.S. waters, however, since legal and illegal fisheries activities in some countries are causing high mortality of loggerheads from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean DPS. Due to the long range migratory movements of sea turtles between nesting beaches and foraging areas, long-term international cooperation is absolutely essential for recovery and stability of nesting populations. SUGGESTED REFERENCES: Dodd, C.K., Jr. 1988. Synopsis of the biological data on the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta (Linnaeus 1758). Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report 88(14). Lutz, P.L., and J.A. Musick (eds.). 1997. The Biology of Sea Turtles. CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL. Lutz, P.L., J.A. Musick, and J. Wyneken (eds.). 2003. The Biology of Sea Turtles, Volume 2. CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL. National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1998. Recovery plan for U.S. Pacific populations of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta). National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, MD. National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2008. Recovery plan for the Northwest Atlantic population of the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), second revision. National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, MD. Turtle Expert Working Group. 2009. An assessment of the loggerhead turtle population in the western North Atlantic Ocean. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-575. Witherington, B., R. Herren, and M. Bresette. 2006. Caretta caretta – loggerhead sea turtle. Chelonian Research Monographs 3:74-89. For more information please contact: National Sea Turtle Coordinator U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 7915 Baymeadows Way, Suite 200 Jacksonville, FL 32256 Phone: (904) 731-3336 Fax: (904) 731-3045 Email: [email protected] Program Officer, Marine Turtle Conservation Fund Division of International Conservation U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS100 Arlington, VA 22203 Phone: (703) 358-2277 Fax: (703) 358-2115

Last Updated: February 2012 Last Reviewed: February 2012