Tiny beetle subject of big dispute

A half-inch long beetle called one of the rarest insects in the world is at the center of a lawsuit filed this week in federal court in Denver. Three environmental groups sued Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acting director Rowan Gould, saying the officials did not set aside enough habitat to preserve the Salt Creek tiger beetle. The beetle lives only in salty wetlands in eastern Nebraska, and only 165 adult beetles were found during a 2008 survey — all living on the outskirts of Lincoln, Neb., according to the lawsuit. In 2005, a coalition of biologists determined that protecting 37,000 acres would be necessary for the beetle's recovery, according to the lawsuit. After a series of downward revisions, the federal government designated only 2,000 acres as critical habitat, the lawsuit claims...more