TUCSON, Ariz. — Scientists, including acclaimed wildlife biologist Jane Goodall, joined environmental groups yesterday in petitioning the government to add 225 plants and animals to the endangered species list. Nearly half are in Hawai'i.

The species are not new to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; four-fifths have been on the agency's waiting list for a decade. Some have been waiting since 1975. The average is 17 years.

The 107 from Hawai'i include the band-rumped storm petrel, anchialine pool shrimp, several species of damseflies and the Lana'i tree snail.

Applauding the effort was David Henkin of the Earthjustice environmental lawfirm in Honolulu, which has filed lawsuits against the Fish and Wildlife Service to force critical habitat designation for endangered species.

"These species are going extinct before they receive protections. That's completely unacceptable," Henkin said today.

The 225 species listed in the petitions are from 39 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Mariana and Northern Mariana islands and American Samoa.

Goodall, known for her pioneering research on chimpanzees, signed the petitions, joined by other prominent scientists including biologists E.O. Wilson of Harvard University and Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University.

"Wildlife is facing serious threats almost everywhere," Goodall said in a statement. She accused the Bush administration of seeking to undermine the Endangered Species Act.

A spokesman for the Interior Department accused the Tucson-based group of misrepresenting the realities of the endangered species program. Hugh Vickery attributed a decline in listing new species to "a flood of lawsuits" filed by the center and other plaintiffs since 1997.

Henkin called that assertion "shibai."

"The problem is not litigation," he said. "It's the complete refusal of the Fish and Wildlife Service to request funds from Congress to get the job done."

He added that the agency, especially under the Bush administration, would rather spend the money to fight lawsuits it knows it will lose, just to delay the process.

More than 1,200 species have been placed on the endangered list since the Endangered Species Act became law in 1973, Nowicki said. The Bush administration has listed only 31 species as endangered, in contrast to an average of 65 a year by the Clinton administration and 59 a year under the first President Bush.

In 2003, Fish and Wildlife estimated that some $153 million would be needed to meet the backlog of obligations for listing and critical habitat, the center said.