*GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Looking high and low, Robbin Thorp can no longer
find a species of bumblebee that just five years ago was plentiful in
northwestern California and southwestern Oregon.*
<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299982,00.html>
Thorp, an emeritus professor of entomology from the University of
California at Davis, found one solitary worker last year along a remote
mountain trail in the Siskiyou Mountains, but hasn't been able to locate
any this year. <http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299982,00.html>
He fears that the species — Franklin's bumblebee — has gone extinct
before anyone could even propose it for the endangered species list. To
make matters worse, two other bumblebee species — one on the East coast,
one on the West — have gone from common to rare.
<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299982,00.html>