Gold-edged gem (Schinia avemensis) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 1

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Assessment Summary

Assessment Summary - April 2006

Common name: Gold-edged Gem

Scientific name: Schinia avemensis

Status: Endangered

Reason for designation: This moth is a habitat specialist that needs active dunes or blow-outs with populations of its sole larval host plant. It is known from only two small populations in Canada and two in the United States. Large-scale decline in active dune habitat over the past 100 years has likely resulted in a corresponding reduction in the moth. Only very small, scattered, isolated patches of suitable habitat, totaling approximately 6 km², remain. They are threatened by habitat loss in the form of stabilization of active dunes by both native and introduced vegetation and by overgrazing of its larval host plant, which severely impacts small, isolated populations of the moth. The closest population of the moth in the United States is about 1,200 km to the south in Colorado, so immigration of individuals into the Canadian population is not possible.

Occurrence: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba

Status history: Designated Endangered in April 2006. Assessment based on a new status report.