Gobies are one of the largest and most widespread fish families in the world, but even so, the presence of endemic species in the Great Artesian Basin spring complexes of central Australia is a little…
An Armoured Mistfrog blending into a rock.
Robert Puschendorf
Torrent frogs are an interesting group of frogs found in the rainforests of north-east Australia. There are four species in the group: the Mountain Mistfrog (Litoria nyakalensis), the Armoured Mistfrog…
If you’re a family or a business, you’ll get a look-in on Budget night. But what if you’re a Western Swamp Turtle?
Sascha Grant
Last year the Australian governments (federal and state) spent AU$6.23 billion on the budget line “climate change and environment”. This probably seems a reasonable amount to most taxpayers, compared to…
The Christmas Island Shrew has been recorded four times since its discovery.
Max Orchard
It may be that there are no more shrews in Australia. There was only ever one representative, edging into the Australian political estate on the remote Christmas Island, closer to Java than any other…
Caught on camera: a rare remote image of a wombat coming out its burrow in the evening.
Qld Dept. of Environment and Heritage Protection.
Bringing a species back from the brink of extinction is never easy. Typically, it takes long-term commitment, amounting to lifetimes of hard work by dedicated scientists, managers and supporters.
That…
The Mountain Pygmy-possum is clinging to existence in its alpine refuges.
Hayley Bates
The Mountain Pygmy-possum (Burramys parvus) is one of five living species of pygmy-possum, all of which are classified within a single family. It is the largest of the pygmy-possums, and can be easily…
A shark in the hand: this Northern River Shark has been tagged in the attempt to collect more information on the species.
Jeff Whitty
The Northern River Shark (Glyphis garricki) is one of the rarest species of shark in the world. It is known only from a small number of locations in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Papua…
This female Territory Imitator probably shouldn’t be on the IUCN’s Red List. But very little is known about this obscure group of insects.
David Rentz
Consider the katydids. Katydids are related to grasshoppers and crickets. They are generally long-legged, have long antennae and are nocturnal. The majority are herbivores but some are carnivorous. Several…
The Hairy Marron is so called for the tufts of crayfish hair all over its body.
Craig Lawrence
Marron are a large, iconic freshwater crayfish endemic to the southwest of Australia. Most Western Australians have been “marroning” in their youth. The tail meat is a delicacy prized by recreational and…
A tiny male Red-finned Blue-eye, half the size of your little finger.
Adam Kereszy
The Red-finned Blue-eye (Scaturiginichthys vermeilipinnis) grows to a maximum of three centimetres long. As males reach adulthood they develop the vivid colouration suggested by their common name. In contrast…
A juvenile Christmas Island Frigatebird in Jakarta. The species' international fishing trips make it difficult to develop conservation strategies.
Shah Jahan
The Christmas Island Frigatebird is a spectacular large seabird. It is one of only five frigatebird species, all with glossy black plumage, long narrow wings, buoyant and acrobatic flight, and long bill…
The Murray cod is popular amongst fishers, and also critically endangered – at least according to the IUCN.
Flickr/guochai
The Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii) is the largest native Australian freshwater fish species, and is probably the most iconic.
The species’ credentials are impressive: it can live for more than 50…
The Retro Slider – the best-named reptile in Australia?
Eric Vanderduys
When asked to name an Australian lizard, most Australians would probably pick the familiar blue-tongue, stumpy lizard or bearded dragon, or perhaps the iconic thorny devil, frill-neck lizard or a goanna…
The Cataract Gorge in Launceston, Tasmania, once home to the Tasmanian Torrent Midge.
Flickr/Simon Lieschke
Torrent midges, as their name suggests, make their homes in the fastest-flowing parts of rivers and streams. Their larvae have evolved remarkable and unique adaptations, including suckers on their underside…
Since 1998 sea snakes have vanished from reefs in Western Australia. This Leaf-scaled sea snake may already be extinct.
Hal Cogger
Short-nosed (Aipysurus apraefrontalis) and Leaf-scaled (A. foliosquama) sea snakes are restricted to coral reefs in Western Australia. Both species are known from Ashmore and Hibernia Reefs, while the…
Gilbert’s Potoroo: rediscovered in 1994 after nearly 100 years.
Dick Walker
Gilbert’s Potoroo (Potorous gilbertii) is one of four species of potoroo. It has dense grey-brown fur, paler on the underside, with furry jowls,
large eyes and an almost hairless tail. It is the smallest…
The Denison Rain Crayfish is more closely related to crayfish in Madagascar than to other Australian species. Alastair Richardson.
The buttongrass plains, swamps and heathy slopes of western Tasmania support a suite of burrowing crayfish species in the endemic genera Ombrastacoides and Spinastacoides.
These nutrient-poor, acid peatlands…
The Western Swamp Tortoise was rediscovered in the 1950s.
Nicola Mitchell
The Western Swamp Tortoise (Pseudemydura umbrina) is Australia’s rarest reptile. Originally it was known only from a single specimen collected in 1839 from an unknown location in Western Australia. No…
A breeding colony of Lord Howe Island Stick Insects was founded at Melbourne Zoo.
AAP
The Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis) or “land lobster” is a large, flightless stick insect that was, until recently, thought to be extinct. It has a glossy brownish-black exoskeleton…
Only 3-8% of the original number of Southern Bluefin Tuna still exist.
AAP
Note: Southern Bluefin Tuna is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, but only as conservation dependent under Australian legislation.
Southern Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) are majestic, temperate…
The Beautiful Nursery Frog is found only on Thornton Peak in northeast Queensland.
Steve Williams
The Beautiful Nursery Frog (Cophixalus concinnus) is a tiny ground-living frog from the family Microhylidae – from the Greek words “micros”, meaning small, and “hyla”, meaning forest or woods.
The species…
An early dry season fire in Kakadu National Park – are these fires burning up our mammals?
Clay Trauernicht
Conservationists should take heart that Australia is finally waking up to the biodiversity crisis in Australia’s north. It is an urgent problem: right now, a diverse assortment of our small mammals – bandicoots…
Euastacus dharawalus is the most critical of the spiny crayfish group.
Jason Coughran
You may be familiar with some of Australia’s more iconic spiny crayfish, such as the giant Murray River crayfish, Euastacus armatus, but there is an untold diversity within this endemic Australian genus…
The male Regent Honeyeater is larger and brighter than the female.
Dean Ingwersen
The Regent Honeyeater (Anthochaera phrygia) is a spectacular, black, white and gold, medium-sized honeyeater. It has a bare, corrugated pale face, giving rise to its earlier name of Warty-faced Honeyeater…
We need to change the moral system that lets us off the hook for species extinction.
Kelly Garbato
Extinction is a diminution of the natural legacy that we have inherited. It is a breach of the duty we have for inter-generational equity – that we should pass to our descendants a world as rich, intact…
Lists of endangered species don’t match up – why is that?
dano/Flickr
In 1999, Robert Hill’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act (EPBC Act) was enacted. One of its hard-fought provisions was that threatened species (and ecological communities) had to be considered…
National parks' role as a refuge from direct human intervention will only become more important in future.
dracopylla/Flickr
Tim Flannery’s recent Quarterly Essay, After the Future, questions whether Australian national parks will become “marsupial ghost towns” despite the tens of millions of dollars governments spend on them…
Without help, parks like Kakadu could become marsupial ghost towns.
Territory Expeditions
Today we begin a series on Australia’s endangered species and how best to conserve them. The series will run each Thursday, and begins with this excerpt from Tim Flannery’s Quarterly Essay, After the Future…
It’s not surprising Australians want to protect endangered species like the numbat. It is surprising that governments won’t listen.
dilettantiquity/flickr
Tim Flannery, in his Quarterly Essay After the Future, is right to deplore the sudden abrogation of responsibility for threatened species by state and federal governments. The tragedy is that neglecting…
