Biodiversity

Threatened species

The Action Plan for Australian Bats

Environment Australia, 1999
ISBN 0 642 2546 363

Recovery outlines and taxon summaries (continued)

Recovery outline: Eastern Long-eared Bat

Family: Vespertilionidae

Scientific name: Nyctophilus timoriensis (Geoffroy, 1806) (South-eastern form)

Common name: Eastern Long-eared Bat

Conservation status: Vulnerable (A1c, A2c)

Intraspecific taxa

None.

Former distribution

Possibly unchanged. Previously considered to be distributed throughout temperate southern Australia, but as this taxon has recently been shown to be comprised of three species with allopatric distributions (H. Parnaby pers. comm.), the former distribution is therefore unclear.

Current distribution

Southern central Queensland, central western New South Wales, north-western Victoria and South Australia. There are only four records of this species from Victoria, all from the north-west of the state (Lumsden 1994). There have been no records from central western Victoria since 1888 (a single specimen). In South Australia records are confined to north of the Murray River, east of Canegrass Station and south of the Barrier Highway, but the northern range limit in this state remains unclear.

Habitat

River Red Gum forest, semi-arid woodlands and savannahs. It also occurs in box/ironbark/Callitris open forests and Buloke woodland in northern New South Wales and inland south-east Queensland. In South Australia it is confined to tall mallee shrublands north of the Murray River and is known to roost in hollows in Eucalyptus gracilis. Victorian records are from E. gracilis mallee, Buloke and Black Box woodlands (Lumsden 1994).

Reasons for decline

Extensive loss of habitat. Clearing for agriculture and, in the remaining uncleared areas, timber harvesting, grazing and altered fire regimes are suspected threats. In New South Wales 75% of the eastern part of the species range has been cleared.

Conservation reserves on which species occurs

Vic.: Hattah-Kulkyne National Park, Murray Sunset National Park.

NSW: Goulburn River National Park, Monabalai Nature Reserve, Yathong Nature Reserve Budigower Nature Reserve, Woggon Nature Reserve, Mungo National Park, Cocoparra National Park, Ben Halls Gap National Park, Pilliga Nature Reserve, Goobang National Park, Warrumbungle National Park, The Rock Nature Reserve.

SA: Danggali Conservation Park.

Commonwealth (Environment Australia): Calperum pastoral lease.

Other public land on which species occurs

NSW: Crown Land near Ulan, Binya State Forest, Benambra State Forest, Warraderry State Forest, Leard State Forest.

Victoria: remnant vegetation in a streamside reserve along Bullock Ck, south-west of Echuca.

Queensland: Eena State Forest, Bracker State Forest, Barakula State Forest.

Other land on which species occurs

Recorded from Canegrass Station in South Australia and probably occurs on other private land containing mallee between Canegrass Station and Danggali Conservation Park.

Is knowledge about species adequate for objectives and actions to be defined accurately?

Partially.

Recovery objectives

Management and research actions completed or underway:

Management and research actions required:

Organisation(s) responsible for conservation of species:

New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Natural Resources and Environment (Victoria), Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Queensland Department of Primary Industries (Forestry), South Australian Department of Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs, Environment Australia.

Other organisation(s)/individuals involved

State Forests of New South Wales, Department of Land and Water Conservation (NSW), Parks Victoria, Bookmark Biosphere Trust.

Can recovery be carried out with existing resources?

No. The following is required:

(Costs based on 1 person for 12 months 60K, with technical assistance for 6 months 21K, vehicle for 6 months 12K, expenses 24K and equipment 10K.)

Bibliography

Ayers D. 1995. Endangered Fauna of Western New South Wales. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Hurstville.

Ayers D., Nash S. and Baggett K. 1996. Threatened Species of Western NSW. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Hurstville.

Lumsden L.F. 1994. The distribution, habitat and conservation status of the Greater Long-eared bat Nyctophilus timoriensis in Victoria. Victorian Naturalist 111, 4–9.

Lumsden L.F. and Bennett A.F. 1995a. Greater Long-eared Bat Nyctophilus timoriensis. pp.188–189. in P.W. Menkhorst (Ed.) Mammals of Victoria. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

Lumsden L.F. and Bennett, A.F. 1995b. Bats of a semi-arid environment in south-eastern Australia: biogeography, ecology and conservation. Wildlife Research 22, 217–240.

Lumsden L.F., Bennett, A.F., Krasna, S.P. and Silins, J.E. 1995. The conservation of insectivorous bats in rural landscapes of northern Victoria. pp. 142–148. in A. Bennett, G. Backhouse and T. Clark (Eds). People and Nature Conservation: Perspectives on Private Land Use and Endangered Species Recovery. Transactions of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales.

Parnaby H. 1995. Greater Long-eared Bat Nyctophilus timoriensis. pp. 507–508 in R. Strahan (Ed.) The Mammals of Australia. Reed Books, Chatswood, NSW.

Richards G.C. 1983. Greater Long-eared Bat Nyctophilus timoriensis. p 328. in R. Strahan (Ed.) The Australian Museum Complete Book of Australian Mammals. Angus & Robertson, Sydney.

Tidemann C.R. 1985. The mammal fauna of the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area, New South Wales. Unpublished report to the Department of Environment and Planning, Sydney.

Authors for the species

Murray Ellis
Lindy Lumsden
Martin Schulz
Terry Reardon
Greg Richards
Glenn Hoye

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