Peer Review Plan for the Mariana Islands Species Proposed Critical Habitat Designation

Title: Proposed critical habitat for the Mariana Islands species

Purpose: The proposed critical habitat designation follows the October 1, 2015, listing of 23 species as endangered or threatened species on islands within the U.S. Territory of Guam and the U.S. Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands. The proposed rule will also address a taxonomic correction and proposed listing of one tree snail on the Island of Rota that was thought to be another federally endangered tree snail. The information in the proposed rule is likely to be influential scientific information.

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A rocky shoreline of a river. The water is calm. Mist and green branches line the river.
The Ecological Services Program works to restore and protect healthy populations of fish, wildlife, and plants and the environments upon which they depend. Using the best available science, we work with federal, state, Tribal, local, and non-profit stakeholders, as well as private land owners, to...
Species
Eugenia bryanii, a member of the Myrtaceae (myrtle) family, is a small shrub about 1m (3.2 ft) tall. Stems are cylindrical and taper off with leaves that are fleshy, and elliptical with rolled margins. The flowers have four small white petals and produce bright red fruit 2 cm (0.8 in) in diameter.
FWS Focus
Hedyotis megalantha, a member of the Rubiaceae (coffee) family, is an erect herb to 70 cm (27.6 in) tall or more, branched, glabrous, stems 4-angled, leaves chartaceous 9 to 11 cm (3.5 to 4.3 in) long and 3 to 4.5 cm (1.2 to 1.8 in) wide. Inflorescence is a lax, divaricately branched leafy panicle...
FWS Focus
Heritiera longipetiolata, a member of the Malvaceae (hibiscus) family, is a stout, short tree; the trunk often twisted, rising from crevices in dissected limestone plateaus and slopes. Leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, sometimes elliptic, acuminate, obtuse or rounded at base; the petiole 4 to 8 cm (1.6...
FWS Focus
Phyllanthus saffordii, a member of the Phyllanthaceae family, is an erect, low, woody shrub, sparsely branched, with terete stems 30 to 40 cm (11.8 to 15.7 in), side branchlets 10 to 12 cm (3.9 to 4.7 in) long, with many small dark green, imbricate, oblong leaves 5 to 12 cm (2 to 4.7 in) long and 1...
FWS Focus
Psychotria malaspinae is a small tree or shrub in the Rubiaceae (coffee) family, trunks 4 to 5 cm (1.6 to 2 in) thick with terete reddish-brown branches. Leaves are chartaceous, dark glossy above, slightly paler and duller beneath, elliptic-oblong to obovate-oblanceolate, 6 to 10 cm (2.4 to 3.9 in...
FWS Focus
Solanum guamense, in the Solanaceae (nightshade) family, is medium-sized (2 m, 6.6 ft) shrub with stellate hairs covering the stems, 3 to 4 mm (0.1 to 0.2 in) thick, white flowers, small red tomato-like fruit (5 to 7 mm, [0.2 to 0.3 in]) wide, and thorns on the undersides of the papery, ovate to...
FWS Focus
Tinospora homosepala, a member of the Menispermaceae (moonseed) family, is a climbing vine, leaves rather long-petiolate, cordate to subcordate, acuminate, entire, palmately 3- to 5-nerved, chartaceous (papery), up to 10 to 12 cm (4 to 4.7 in) long, the petiole about as long. Flowers are unisexual...
FWS Focus
Bulbophyllum guamense (Siboyan halom tano; Siboyas halumtano) is an epiphytic orchid (family Orchidaceae) characterized by leaf-bearing pseudobulbs that are spaced or clustered on a creeping or mat-like formation of fiber-covered rhizomes or “stems.” The pseudobulbs are pear-shaped to almost round...
FWS Focus
Dendrobium guamense, a member of the Orchidaceae (orchid) family, has oblong-lanceolate leaves with a smooth edge, approximately 4 in (10 cm) long and 0.4 to 0.6 inches (1 to 1.5 cm) wide, emerging from a pseudobulb. The leaf sheath surrounding the base of the leaf is cylindrical. The plant...
FWS Focus
Cycas micronesica, a member of the Cycadaceae family, is a gymnosperm, usually an unbranched tree with a thick trunk. Adult stem range between 8 to 12 m (26 to 39 ft) in length and 14 to 25 cm (5.5 to 49 in) in diameter. Leaves are glossy, pinnate (leaflets are attached along an extension of the...
FWS Focus
Maesa walkeri is a shrub in the Primulaceae (primrose) family with reddish branches and conspicuous lenticels and leaf scars. Leaves are alternate and ovate with ruffled margins and the prominent reddish veins and midveins are dark green on top and lighter below. The blades are 6 to 10 cm (2.4 to 4...
FWS Focus
Nervillia jacksoniae, a small terrestrial herbaceous orchid in the subfamily Epidendroideae (family Orchidaceae), grows from an underground tuber 1 to 1.5 cm (0.4 to 0.6 in) in diameter. The erect inflorescence produces a single, terminal, small (less than 1 cm [0.4 in]) flower when 4 to 7 cm (1.6...
FWS Focus
Tabernaemontana rotensis is a medium-sized tree, 8 to 10 m (26 to 33 ft) tall, in the Apocynaceae (dogbane) family. Thin, light green, opposite, elliptic-oblong leaves are 15 to 30 cm (5.9 to 11.8 in) long and 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in) wide. Sap is copious and milky. The inflorescence is an elongate,...
FWS Focus
Tuberolabium guamense is an epiphytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. The leaves are ovate to oblong, 13 x 1.5 cm (5 to 0.6 in), leathery in texture with a smooth edge and lacking a petiole. The leaves grow out of conspicuous roots, which elevate the plant above tree trunks on which it grows.
FWS Focus
The Mariana subspecies of the Pacific sheath-tailed bat (Emballonura semicaudata rotensis) (payeyi, paischeey) is a small, insectivorous (insect-feeding), sac-winged bat in the family Emballonuridae, an old-world group with an extensive tropical distribution. It is a relatively small bat species...
FWS Focus
Slevin’s skink (Emoia slevini, gualiik halumtanu, gho´luuf) is a small lizard in the reptile family Scincidae. Slevin’s skink measures 3 in (77 mm) from snout to cloaca vent (the opening for reproductive and excretory ducts), although length can vary slightly (Vogt and Williams 2004, p. 65). Slevin...
FWS Focus
The Mariana eight-spot butterfly (Hypolimnas octocula marianensis)(abbabang, libweibwogh), a butterfly in the Nymphalidae family, is known solely from the islands of Guam and Saipan, in the forest ecosystem. Like most nymphalid butterflies, orange and black are the two primary colors exhibited by...
FWS Focus
The Mariana wandering butterfly (Vagrans egistina) (abbabang, libweibwogh) is endemic to the islands of Guam and Rota in the Mariana archipelago, in the forest ecosystem. Like most nymphalid butterflies, the Mariana wandering butterfly is primarily orange and black in coloration. This species is...
FWS Focus
The Rota blue damselfly (Ischnura luta) (dulalas Luta, dulalas Luuta) is a small damselfly endemic to the island of Rota and found within the stream ecosystem. The species is relatively small in size, with males measuring 1.3 in (34 mm) in body length, with forewings and hindwings 0.7 in (18 mm)...
FWS Focus
The fragile tree snail (Samoana fragilis; akaleha dogas, denden), in the Partulidae family, is known from the forest ecosystems of Guam and Rota. The conical shell of the fragile tree snail is 0.5 to 0.6 in (12 to 16 mm) long, 0.4 to 0.5 in (10 to 12 mm) wide, and is formed by four whorls that...
FWS Focus
The Guam tree snail (Partula radiolata; akaleha, denden), in the Partulidae family, is endemic to the forest ecosystem of Guam; this species is not found on any other island. The shell of the Guam tree snail is pale straw-colored with darker streaks and brown lines, and has impressed spiral lines....
FWS Focus
The humped tree snail (Partula gibba; akaleha, denden), in the Partulidae family, is endemic to the forest ecosystem on the Mariana Islands of Guam, Rota, Saipan, Tinian, Aguiguan, Anatahan, Sarigan, Alamagan, and Pagan. The shell of the humped tree snail can be left- or right-coiling, conic-ovate...
FWS Focus
Langford’s tree snail (Partula langfordi; akaleha, denden), in the Partulidae family, is endemic to the forest ecosystem of the island of Aguiguan. Langford’s tree snail has a dextral (to the right or clockwise from the opening of the shell at the lower right, as opposed to sinistral, to the left,...
FWS Focus
FWS and DOI Region(s)