RECOVERY PLAN FOR THE SALT CREEK TIGER BEETLE (\u3ci\u3eCicindela nevadica lincolniana\u3c/i\u3e)

Current Species Status: The Salt Creek tiger beetle (Cicindela [Ellipsoptera] nevadica lincolniana) was listed as a federally endangered subspecies on November 7, 2005 (70 FR 58335, October 6, 2005). On May 6, 2014 (79 FR 26013), we published a revised final rule designating approximately 449 hectares (1,110 acres) of critical habitat for the Salt Creek tiger beetle in Lancaster and Saunders Counties in Nebraska. The Salt Creek tiger beetle has a recovery priority number of 6C, which means it is a subspecies that faces a high level of threat, including conflict with development activities; a priority number of 6C also indicates it has a low potential for recovery. The Salt Creek tiger beetle has one of the most restricted ranges of any insect in the United States and is currently limited to segments of Little Salt Creek and adjacent remnant saline wetlands in northern Lancaster County, Nebraska. Habitat Requirements and Limiting Factors: The Salt Creek tiger beetle requires open, barren saline mud flats and mud banks of streams with saline seeps for constructing larval burrows, moving to and from dispersal corridors, foraging, and maintaining thermoregulation (ability of an organism to regulate its body temperature using internal and external mechanisms). The primary threat to this species is loss and degradation of saline wetland and stream habitats due to commercial, residential, and agricultural development. Construction of levees, reservoirs, and additional channelization of Salt Creek resulted in the degradation and loss of saline wetlands and seeps and entrenchment of its associated tributaries (i.e., Rock, Little Salt, Oak, and Haines Branch Creeks). Contamination, artificial lights, invasive plants, floods, and drought can also have a negative impact on this insect. The Salt Creek tiger beetle is currently found on only one stream segment (Little Salt Creek), which makes it subject to high extinction risk should a catastrophic event occur