Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Listing the Tumbling Creek Cavesnail as Endangered

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), exercise our authority to emergency list the Tumbling Creek cavesnail (Antrobia culveri) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This species is known to occur in one cave in Missouri. The distribution of this species has decreased in Tumbling Creek by 90 percent since 1974. Although cavesnail numbers fluctuated seasonally and annually between 1996 and 2000, the species was not found in the monitored section of the cave stream during five surveys in 2001. Because the sudden population decline demonstrates a significant and imminent risk to the well-being of the Tumbling Creek cavesnail, we find that emergency listing is necessary to provide Federal protection pursuant to the Act for 240 days. A proposed rule to list the Tumbling Creek cavesnail as endangered is published concurrently with this emergency rule, and can be found in this issue of the Federal Register in the proposed rules section.