Literature review: Impact of Chilean needle grass ... - Weeds Australia

Thylogale billardierii), Peramelidae (bandicoots) and Muridae (Rabbit Eared Tree Rat Conilurus albipes (Lichtenstein))
(Wakefield1964b, Menkhorst 1995a). Many grassland mammals have also become exinct in New South Wales, including L.
leporides, Tasmanian Bettong Bettongia gaimardi Desmarest, Western Barred Bandicoot Perameles bougainville (Quoy and
Gaimard), C. albipes and Plains Mouse Pseudomys australis Gray (Muridae) (Keith 2004).
Bats are relatively common crespusclar and nocturnal foragers over native grasslands. The insectivorous Verpertilionidae are the
dominant group in south-eastern Australia but their persistence is dependent on the availability of roosting and maternity sites in
tree hollows, to which they must return on a daily basis, and the ongoing loss of old hollow-bearing trees is a threat to their
continued existence (Mansergh et al. 2006b).
Table 15. Grassland mammals that have disappeared from south-eastern Australian grasslands since European settlement. E =
globally extinct, E(MSE) = extinct in mainland south-eastern Australia, En(Vo) = endangered in Victoria, only present in
Victoria. ‘Mainland south-eastern Australia’ excludes Queensland and the Northern Rivers district of NSW. N.B. Grasslands
were not a habitat of Leporillus apicalis, Dasyurus viverrinus and Phascogale calura according to Menkhorst (1995a).
Species Common Name Family Current Status References
Dasyurus viverrinus (Shaw) Eastern Quoll Dasyuridae E(MSE) Menkhorst 1995a, Lunt et al. 1998
Phascogale calura Gould Red-tailed Phascogale Dasyuridae E(MSE) Menkhorst 1995a, Lunt et al. 1998
Chareropus ecaudatus (Ogilby) Pig-footed Bandicoot Peramelidae E Menkhorst 1995a, Lunt et al. 1998
Perameles bougainville (Quoy Western Barred Bandicoot Peramelidae E(MSE) Menkhorst 1995a, Lunt et al. 1998
and Gaimard)
Perameles gunnii Gray Eastern Barred Bandicoot Peramelidae En(Vo) Menkhorst 1995a, Backhouse and
Crossthwaite 2003
Aepyprymnus rufescens (Gray) Rufous Bettong Potoroidae E(MSE) Menkhorst 1995a, Lunt et al. 1998
Bettongia gaimardi (Desmarest) Tasmanian Bettong Potoroidae E(MSE) Menkhorst 1995a, Lunt et al. 1998
Bettongia lesueur (Quoy and Burrowing Bettong Potoroidae E(MSE) Noble 1993
Gaimard)
Bettongia penicillata Gray Brush-tailed Bettong Potoroidae E(MSE) Menkhorst 1995a, Lunt et al. 1998
Lagorchestes leporides (Gould) Eastern Hare Wallaby Macropodidae E Wakefield1964b, Menkhorst 1995a
Macropus greyi Waterhouse Toolache Wallaby Macropodidae E Menkhorst 1995a
Onychogalea fraenata (Gould) Bridled Nailtail Wallaby Macropodidae E(MSE) Menkhorst 1995a, Lunt et al. 1998
Thylogale billardierii
Tasmanian Pademelon Macropodidae E(MSE) Williams 1995
(Desmarest)
Conilurus albipes (Lichtenstein) White-footed Rabbit-rat Muridae E Menkhorst 1995a, Lunt et al. 1998
Leporillus apicalis (Gould) Lesser Stick-nest Rat Muridae E Menkhorst 1995a, Lunt et al. 1998
Pseudomys sp. rat Muridae E Lunt et al. 1998
Pseudomys australis Gray Plains Rat Muridae E(MSE) Menkhorst 1995a, Lunt et al. 1998,
Mansergh andSeebeck 2003
Information on the orginal habitat preferences and populations densities of the species that have dramatically declined are
difficult to obtain (Noble et al. 2007). Opinions differ on whether some were grassland inhabitants. Seebeck and Mansergh (2003
p. 2) considered the extinct Lagorchestes leporides to be an arid zone species, “limited to the central and southern sections of the
Murray-Darling basin”, and the former range of the extinct C. albipes to be unclear. Hope (1994) argued that 30-12 kybp cave
sediment fossils from south-western Victoria were of desert animals. But Wakefield (1964b) reported subfossil remains of L.
leporides at Mt Hamilton and of C. albipes from Mt Eccles, Byaduk Caves and Mt Hamilton, while Seebeck and Mansergh
(2003) mentioned historical records of C. albipes from the Port Phillip region and the Portland area. L. leporides was known in
the South East of South Australia where it was last recorded near Naracoorte in 1870, and C. albipes was reported from the
South East only before 1843 (Aitken 1983). Frith (1973 p. 76) considered both Lagorchestes and Onychogalea to have been
“abundant in more open woodlands and savannahs”. Brown (1987) considered that three species of bandicoots extinct in Victoria
were restricted to the semi-arid north-west of the State. Wakefield (1963a p. 328) stated that there is “evidence that C. albipes
survived [in Victoria] until well after European settlement”. Williams (1995) stated that Thylogale billardierii was “apparently
common” in coastal forest and scrub in southern Victoria before 1900, but recorded a specimen from Werribee in 1881.
Pseuodmys australis, extinct in Victoria and NSW but still present in central Australia, is considered to have once inhabitated the
Western Plains Grasslands of Victoria, “where it constructed large, shallow, complex burrow systems”, but there is no reliable
(i.e. specimen based) evidence that it occurred in the State at the time of European occupation (Mansergh and Seebeck 2003).
Wakefield (1964b) reported subfossil remains of the Bettongia gaimardi from Mt Hamilton and the Burrowing Bettong B.
lesueur (Quoy and Gaimard) from Mt Hamilton and Bushfield (8 km north of Warrnambool). The former was probably present
in the South East of South Australia during the period of early settlement (Aitken 1983) and probably became extinct on mailand
Australia about 1900, but is still extant in Tasmania (Mansergh and Seebeck 2003). The latter, at the time of European
settlement, was found across all regions of native grassland in western and northern Victoria, the NSW Riverina and South
Australia, but not the NSW Southern Tablelands (Aitken 1983, Seebeck and Rose 1989, Noble 1993, Noble et al. 2007), and had
the widest distribution of all native mammals (Noble et al. 2007), but became extinct on the mainland. Population densities of
14-35 km-2 have been estimated in arid and semiarid areas (Noble et al. 2007). The Brushtailed Bettong B. penicillata was once
common across southern Australia (Garkaklis et al. 2003), although Seebeck and Rose (1989) indicated a former range inland of
current temperate grasslands, except in South Australia. The Rufous Bettong Aepyprymnus rufescens prefers “open grassy
woodland and forest”, but in northern NSW the vegetation consisted of “only tall native grasses” and individuals have been
observed feeding in pasture (Seebeck and Rose 1989 p. 726). It’s decline on the northern tablelands of NSW was partly the result
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