Rare species call North 27th home

 2 comment(s)  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

By ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS / Lincoln Journal Star

Not every street can claim one of the rarest insects in the United States.

North 27th Street can, and then some. It’s also home to an endangered plant.

The Salt Creek tiger beetle, an insect with bulging eyes, distinctive metallic brown and olive green markings and long legs, lives in the salt flats of north Lincoln. The bug is protected by federal law.

Sharing the same saline habitat is the saltwort, an unusual plant that tolerates salt and has state protection in Nebraska.

Of the two species, more attention has been paid to the tiger beetle because its critical habitat is centered along 27th Street just north of Interstate 80. Once a vast salt marsh, the area is now ringed with car dealerships, restaurants, apartments and businesses. Somehow the tiger beetle has survived, but barely.

 In 2005, University of Nebraska-Lincoln entomologist Steve Spomer counted 153 adult tiger beetles.  That same year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put the tiger beetle on the Endangered Species list.

A decade ago, the tiger beetle population numbered slightly more than 600.

Spomer took another count this year. Total population: 466.

Good news?  Has the tiger beetle population rebounded?

“It’s hard to predict,” Spomer  said, because the tiger beetle has a two-year life cycle.

Although Spomer counted 466 adults this year, last year they numbered 153, a far cry from the 558 counted in 2004.

“If you see a population with a lot of adults one year, it doesn’t mean the population will be high next year,” Spomer said.

Adult tiger beetles live for about five weeks, during which time they hunt, eat, mate and lay eggs. Two years later, new adults emerge.

Although a great deal of development has taken place along North 27th Street, tracts of saline wetlands have been set aside for the tiger beetle north and south of  Arbor Lake, where most of them hang out.

“There’s been a lot of concern in the past, especially with development progressing at the rate it’s going,” Spomer said. Runoff from storms and light pollution, which can affect mating, still pose threats to the beetle, he said.

Tom Malmstrom, natural resources coordinator with the city Parks and Recreation Department, said efforts are under way to  restore Shoemaker Marsh, north of Arbor Lake, and create more saline wetlands.

 Malmstrom agreed it is  unusual to have one, let alone two, endangered species along a city street.

“It kind of provides a feeling that you’re in an urban area, and yet we have some wild places that are available for educational purposes and the community,” he said.

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 402-473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.