CNDDB News Blog

Bombus occidentalis photograph by iNaturalist user @johnccnd (CC BY-NC 4.0) from Plumas County, California

The California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) tracks 6 bumble bees (Bombus sp.) that are identified as species of greatest conservation need. Four of these bumble bees were petitioned to the State of California in 2018 and the Fish and Game Commission advanced them to candidacy in June 2019 (B. franklini, B. crotchii, B. occidentalis, B. suckleyi). This was challenged in court and in November 2020 the Superior Court ruled that insects are not eligible for listing under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). Pending ongoing litigation, no bumble bees have legal status under CESA and none are currently considered candidates for listing by the State.

However, effective 23 September 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed Franklin’s bumble bee (Bombus franklini) as federally Endangered. Franklin’s bumble bee has one of the smallest ranges of Bombus spp. worldwide, only known from the Klamath Mountains region of northern California and southern Oregon. Franklin’s bumble bee has faced precipitous decline. The last known detection of Franklin’s bumble bee in California was in 1998 and the last known detection in Oregon was in 2006, the latter despite regular survey efforts to historic sites. Some fear this species may already be extinct.

Additional resources:

• Overview of the listing process under CESA, Weiland et al. 2021, California Fish and Wildlife Journal, Special Endangered Species Issue:28-40 (PDF)
• Almond Alliance of California v. California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Sacramento Superior Court No. 34-2019-80003216.
• Franklin’s bumble bee, USFWS Environmental Conservation Online System
• Franklin’s bumble bee species status assessment, USFWS 2018
• Nature Serve Conservation Ranks
• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife: Pollinators
• US Fish and Wildlife Service: Pollinators
• Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation Program

CNDDB recently celebrated the creation of our 100,000th element occurrence! For those of you who don’t know, element occurrences are summaries of all we know about a species in an area. An element occurrence could be a single detection, or a summary of 100 years’ worth of data.

While this milestone could not be achieved without the dedicated staff who have sifted through data and organized it all, we need to give the real credit where it is due. To all our contributors, thank you! The CNDDB is a testament to your passion and dogged efforts to protect California’s wild species.

We will continue to collect, aggregate, and distribute rare species data that biologists all over California have contributed to assist in better conservation and species management. Join our effort by submitting your detections of rare species through our Online Field Survey Form. Let’s reach that next milestone together!

July 16th is World Snake Day! Snakes (AKA danger noodles) shouldn't cause alarm. Usually it's humans which do them harm. When they see us they want to run away...or noodle along their own way. These elegant reptiles with elongated bodies are often misunderstood and underappreciated, and out in the wild, they are threatened by habitat loss, climate change, and disease.

The CNDDB is currently actively working on mapping southern rubber boa (Charina umbratica) since they are under review to be listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. Other snake species that are at the top of our minds include the giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas), which is negatively impacted by the recent droughts in California, and the south coast gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis pop. 1), which has some taxonomic uncertainties that could use further research and are likely in decline due to loss of habitat in Southern California.

How can you help these lovely creatures? The CNDDB currently tracks the following 16 snakes:

• Southern rubber boa (Charina umbratica), State Threatened, US Forest Service Sensitive Species
• California glossy snake (Arizona elegans occidentalis), Species of Special Concern*
• San Bernardino ringneck snake (Diadophis punctatus modestus), US Forest Service Sensitive Species
• Regal ringneck snake (Diadophis punctatus regalis), Species of Special Concern
• San Diego ringneck snake (Diadophis punctatus similis), US Forest Service Sensitive Species
• San Joaquin coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum ruddocki), Species of Special Concern
• Baja California coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum fuliginosus), Species of Special Concern
• Alameda whipsnake (Masticophis lateralis euryxanthus), State Threatened, Federally Threatened
• Santa Cruz Island gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer pumilus)
• Coast patch-nosed snake (Salvadora hexalepis virgultea), Species of Special Concern
• Giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas), State Threatened, Federally Threatened
• Two-striped gartersnake (Thamnophis hammondii), Species of Special Concern, US Forest Service Sensitive Species
• Santa Catalina gartersnake (Thamnophis hammondii pop. 1)
• South coast gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis pop. 1), Species of Special Concern
• San Francisco gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia), State Endangered, Federally Endangered, Fully Protected
• Red-diamond rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber), Species of Special Concern, US Forest Service Sensitive Species

*See our previous blog post on accessing information regarding species listed as Species of Special Concern.

If you know someone who has data on any of these snakes, send them our way! If you have found these snakes, submit your observations through our Online Field Survey Form. Together, we can help fill in knowledge gaps to better represent these species and assist with conservation.

CNDDB's own Ryan Elliott recently photographed this beautiful rattler after his kids named her Vivian the Viper and scared her into a hole. Ryan tried encouraging Vivian to emerge, explaining that the kids are basically harmless, but she was having none of it!