U.S. lists first bumble bee species as endangered

File Photo: A rusty patched bumble bee which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing for federal protection as an endangered species is pictured in Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. August 7, 2015. Photo courtesy of Rich Hatfield/Handout via REUTERS

The rusty patched bumble bee, a prized but vanishing pollinator once familiar to much of North America, was listed on Tuesday as an endangered species, becoming the first wild bee in the continental United States to gain such federal protection.

One of several species facing sharp declines, the bumble bee known to scientists as Bombus affinis has plunged nearly 90 percent in abundance and distribution since the late 1990s, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.