Introduction

The Rare Species Status List is the New York Natural Heritage Program's current assessment of the status of New York's rarest and most imperiled animal species. We have developed this list over the years in consultation with the Department of Environmental Conservation's Endangered Species and Nongame Units, NatureServe, researchers, conservation organizations, and knowledgeable amateur biologists. Population locations in our database are drawn from sources including museum specimens, personal contacts, and the scientific literature, and through extensive field research. This list is dynamic, meaning it changes as new discoveries are made or populations are lost.

Taxonomy and Nomenclature

Species typically have two sets of names: scientific and common. Scientific names follow standard nomenclatures specific to the different groups of animals. The scientific names of birds, for example, follow the standards set by the American Ornithologists' Union.

Common names are standardized in some cases, such as for birds, but are not as consistent across a species' geographic range as scientific names. Further, some species have not yet been given common names; in the list below, these species are flagged with general names, such as "A Bluet Damselfy" or "A Noctuid Moth".

State and Federal Listings

NY Natural Heritage tracks a selected subset of New York's animals. The species we track are chosen based on their degree of rarity or imperilment within the state, and as new information comes in, new species are sometimes added while others are discontinued. Information on the species and communities tracked by NY Natural Heritage are used for conservation, research, and regulatory purposes.

Many of the species tracked by NY Natural Heritage are listed as "endangered" or "threatened" under the state Environmental Conservation Law (E.C.L.). Listing is a legal process that is conducted by the state agency with authority over the species in question, and for animals confers important protection requirements. See the List Of Endangered, Threatened And Special Concern Fish and Wildlife Species Of New York State for all state-listed animals.

The DEC Division of Fish, Wildlife, and Marine Resources has jurisdiction over rare animal species listed as "endangered", "threatened", or "special concern" under E.C.L. §11-0535. Animals listed as endangered or threatened receive notable legal protection, as it is illegal to take or possess any of these species or their parts without a permit from DEC. Species of special concern warrant attention and consideration but current information does not justify listing them as either endangered or threatened.

A subset of the animal species listed under New York state law is also recognized under federal law. These species are so seriously imperiled across their entire range that they face the very real prospect of extinction. Species are listed as federally endangered or threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in consultation with state agencies and other experts, and the Service works closely with DEC on the protection of federally listed species in New York.

Ultimately, protection of New York's biodiversity lies with landowners and land managers regardless of state or federal listings. How private and public landowners manage their properties will determine what species and natural communities persist into the future. This situation is both a great opportunity and a serious challenge.

State legal listings are identified with the following codes:

E

endangered

T

threatened

SC

special concern

Federal legal listings are identified with the following codes:

E

listed endangered

T

listed threatened

C

candidate

Another state designation is Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN), which was developed as part of the state's wildlife action plan. In the following list, SGCN are coded as follows:

Y

SGCN

Y-H

High-priority SGCN

P

Species of Potential Conservation Need

See the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) for a list of the state's SGCN and definitions of the three categories.

Global and Subnational Conservation Status Ranks

NY Natural Heritage's statewide inventory efforts revolve around lists of rare species and all types of natural communities known to occur, or to have historically occurred, in the state. These lists are based on a variety of sources including museum collections, scientific literature, information from state and local government agencies, regional and local experts, and data from neighboring states.

Each rare species is assigned a rank based on its rarity, population trends, and threats. Like those in all state Natural Heritage Programs, NY Natural Heritage's ranking system assesses rarity at two geographic scales: global and state. The global rank (G-rank) reflects the status of a species or community throughout its range, whereas the subnational rank (S-rank) indicates its status within New York. Global ranks are maintained and updated by NatureServe, which coordinates the network of Natural Heritage programs. Both global and subnational ranks are usually based on the range of the species or community, the number of occurrences, the viability of the occurrences, and the vulnerability of the species or community around the globe or across the state. As new data become available, the ranks may be revised to reflect the most current information. Subspecific taxa are also assigned a taxon rank, which indicates the subspecies' rank throughout its range.

For the most part, global and subnational ranks follow a straightforward scale of 1 (rarest/most imperiled) to 5 (common/secure), as follows:

G1, S1

Critically Imperiled - Critically imperiled globally or in the state/province because of extreme rarity (often 5 or fewer occurrences) or because of some factor(s) such as very steep declines making it especially vulnerable to extinction or extirpation from the state/province.

G2, S2

Imperiled - Imperiled globally or in the state/province because of rarity due to very restricted range, very few populations (often 20 or fewer), steep declines, or other factors making it very vulnerable to global extinction or extirpation from the state/province.

G3, S3

Vulnerable - Vulnerable globally or in the state/province due to a restricted range, relatively few populations (often 80 or fewer), recent and widespread declines, or other factors making it vulnerable to extirpation.

G4, S4

Apparently Secure - Uncommon but not rare; some cause for long-term concern due to declines or other factors.

G5, S5

Secure - Common, widespread, and abundant globally or in the state/province.

G#G#, S#S#

Range Rank - A numeric range rank (e.g., S2S3) is used to indicate any range of uncertainty about the status of the species or community. Ranges cannot skip more than one rank (e.g., SU is used rather than S1S4).

There are some additional codes:

GX, SX

Presumed Extinct or Extirpated - Species is believed to be extinct in the wild (GX) or extirpated from the state/province (SX). Not located despite intensive searches of historical sites and other appropriate habitat, and virtually no likelihood that it will be rediscovered.

GH, SH

Possibly Extinct or Extirpated (Historical) - Species or community occurred historically in the state/province, and there is some possibility that it may be rediscovered. Its presence may not have been verified in the past 20-40 years. A species or community could become SH without such a 20-40-year delay if the only known occurrences in a the state/province were destroyed or if it had been extensively and unsuccessfully looked for. The SH rank is reserved for species for which some effort has been made to relocate occurrences, rather than simply using this status for all elements not known from verified extant occurrences.

GU, SU

Unrankable - Currently unrankable due to lack of information or due to substantially conflicting information about status or trends.

SNA

Not Applicable - A conservation status rank is not applicable because the species is not a suitable target for conservation activities.

SNR

Unranked - State/province conservation status not yet assessed.

Codes sometimes have qualifiers attached:

T1, T2, etc.

These ranks, which like global and subnational ranks run from 1 (most imperiled) to 5 (secure), are attached to global ranks to indicate the status of a subspecies or variety.

Q

Indicates that the species, subspecies, or variety is in taxonomic dispute.

?

Inexact or Uncertain - Denotes inexact or uncertain numeric rank. (The ? qualifies the character immediately preceding it in the S-rank).

N

Nonbreeding - Conservation status refers to the non-breeding population of the species.

B

Breeding - Conservation status refers to the breeding population of the species in the nation or state/province.

Heritage-Tracked Species

NY Natural Heritage tracks all species listed as endangered and threatened. While we track many of the species listed as being of special concern, a subset of special concern species are currently not rare or imperiled enough to merit tracking at our precise scale. In addition, we track many species that are biologically rare and imperiled (nearly all S1 and S2 species, and some S3 species), but that have not gone through the review process necessary for state listing.

Our program keeps two lists of rare animal species: the Active Inventory List and the Watch List. Species on the Active Inventory List are ones we currently track in our database; for the most part these are the most rare or most imperiled species in the state. Species on the Watch List are those that could become imperiled enough in the future to warrant being actively inventoried, or are ones for which we do not have enough data to determine whether they should be actively inventoried. The lists are dynamic, as S-ranks change with unearthed historical information, field inventories reveal new populations or local extirpations, and state and federal listings are updated.

Further, we are assessing the conservation status of new species groups, such as many marine taxa and insect pollinators, through ongoing projects that will undoubtedly add species to our lists. NY Natural Heritage currently tracks 474 animal species (plus six animal assemblages, which are extraordinarily rare, diverse, or abundant aggregations of multiple animal species). The balance of species among taxonomic groups reflects both the degree of imperilment of various taxa and the level of available knowledge about different groups.