5-year Status Review of the Tooth Cave Ground Beetle (Rhadine persephone)

About the Document

Title:5-year Status Review of the Tooth Cave Ground Beetle (Rhadine persephone)

Purpose: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) is conducting a 5-year review of the endangered Tooth Cave ground beetle (Rhadine persephone) under section 4 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), as amended. The purpose of the 5-year review is to ensure that the listing classification of the species on the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants (50 CFR 17.12) is accurate. The 5-year review document is an assessment of the best scientific data available at this time and will be the basis for a finding by the Service on whether or not to propose, in the future, a change in the listing status (see August 15, 2005, Federal Register notice, 70 FR 78191).

About the Peer Review process

Type of Review: Influential

Estimated Peer Review Timeline: November-December 2007

Estimated Dissemination Date of the Final 5-year review: January 2008.

Process: The Service will conduct external peer review of this document through letters to 3 or more independent scientific reviewers with expertise in karst biology, geology, and management. Reviewers will be asked to review the portion of the 5-year review document that includes a discussion of the scientific information reviewed and our analysis (but not our conclusion regarding the species listing classification). Reviewers will be selected with input from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, members of the Karst Invertebrate Recovery Team, and other local parties involved in the study and conservation of karst invertebrates. Peer reviewers will be selected based on the following criteria:

  • Expertise: Reviewers should have knowledge of karst ecosystem biology, geology, and management.
  • Independence: Reviewers should not be employed by the Service. Academic and consulting scientists and managers should have sufficient independence from the Service or the Department if the government supports their work.
  • Objectivity: Reviewers should be recognized by their peers as being objective, open-minded, and thoughtful. Reviewers should be comfortable sharing their knowledge and identifying their knowledge gaps.
  • Advocacy: Reviewers should not be known or recognized for an affiliation with an advocacy position regarding the protection of this species under the Endangered Species Act.
  • Conflict of Interest: Reviewers should not have any financial or other interest that conflicts or that could impair their objectivity.
Peer reviewers may be asked to: comment specifically on the quality of any information and analyses used or relied on in the review; identify oversights, omissions, and inconsistencies; provide advice on reasonableness of judgments made from the scientific evidence; ensure that scientific uncertainties are clearly identified and characterized, and that potential implications of uncertainties for the technical conclusions drawn are clear; and provide advice on the strengths and limitation of the overall product. Peer reviewers will not be asked to provide recommendations on the classification of the species. The Service will consider the information received from the peer review in conclusions and recommendations for the 5-year review of the Tooth Cave ground beetle.

About Public Participation

Public input for the 5-year review of this species was sought with a Federal Register announcement (70 FR 78191) and the distribution by mail and press release of this announcement to interested parties.

The Service will post the final 5-year review document and recommendation for the Tooth Cave Ground Beetle, including a summary of the peer review results, on its website at http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/SpeciesReport.do?spcode=I0IB.

If this 5-year review results in a recommendation to change the status of the Tooth Cave ground beetle, additional public review and comment will be sought with the publication of a proposed rule in the Federal Register to change the species status.

Contact: Cyndee Watson, Austin Ecological Services Office, at cyndee_watson@fws.gov. or 512-490-0057.