Contributions

A record of Dusky Antechinus swainsonii from Cape Lip- trap Coastal Park, South Gippsland, Victoria

Peter Homan

409 Cardigan Street, Carlton 3053. Email: [email protected]

Abstract During early May 2009, a survey of fauna was conducted in a section of Cape Liptrap Coastal Park in South Gippsland, Victoria. Several species were recorded including two specimens of the dasyurid Antechinus swainsonii. Numerous surveys of have been conducted in the Cape Liptrap area over several decades; however, no previous records are available for the presence of this species in this reserve or along this section of the Gippsland coast. (Th e Victorian Naturalist 127 (3) 2010, 88-90)

Keywords: Dasyurid marsupial, Cape Liptrap, coastal heathland, coastal distribution. Introduction Cape Liptrap Coastal Park covers 4175 hectares, site. Each transect had fi ve trapping stations, mostly as a coastal strip from Point Smythe, with one cage trap and one Elliott trap set one near Venus Bay in the west, to Waratah Bay in to two m apart, at each station. Transects were the east. However, a fairly large patch made up 25 m apart and trapping stations were 10 m mostly of Coastal Heathland, extending up to apart. Traps were operated for four nights at 2.5 km inland, exists near the eastern end of each site. Baits for Elliott traps consisted of a the reserve. Th is section of the park is located mixture of quick oats, smooth peanut butter 160 kilometres south-east of Melbourne and is and honey, with sardines added to the mixture covered by Natmap, 1:100,000, sheet No. 8020 for cage traps. A total of 800 trap-nights were (Wonthaggi). Th e MGA for the central point of completed, comprising 400 cage trap-nights the large patch mentioned above is 115995. Th e and 400 Elliott trap-nights. reserve is managed by Parks Victoria. Th e survey was commissioned by the Depart- Results ment of Sustainability and Environment, pri- Six species of mammals were recorded during marily to determine the possible presence of the survey. Four species were eutherian and two Southern Brown Bandicoot Isoodon obesulus were marsupial. Four species were native and and the ongoing presence of Swamp Antechi- two were introduced (Table 1). No captures of nus Antechinus minimus and White-footed individuals of the three target species occurred Sminthopsis leucopus. Th e survey was at any of the survey sites. Two species of dasyu- carried out between 4 May 2009 and 9 May rid were detected: Agile Antechinus 2009. Antechinus agilis was recorded at three sites and Dusky Antechinus Antechinus swainsonii mim- Methods etes was recorded at one site. Survey methods included cage trapping (stand- ard bandicoot traps, Wiretainers Pty Ltd, Pres- Discussion ton, Victoria and R.E.Walters (1899) Pty Ltd, Th e Dusky Antechinus is a small, terrestrial, Sunshine, Victoria) and Elliott trapping, type carnivorous marsupial, found over a wide A (Elliott Scientifi c Equipment, Upwey, Victo- area of south-eastern Australia from southern ria). Th e survey took place in the large vegeta- Queensland to south-west Victoria and west- tion patch near the eastern end of the park. Five ern (Menkhorst and Knight 2004). survey sites were chosen in habitat considered In Victoria, two subspecies are recognised: A. typical for each of the target species. Sites were swainsonii insularis is confi ned to the Gram- also chosen so as to give the best possible rep- pians where it has been recorded recently in a resentation of the diverse types of vegetation range of wet and dry environments including and fi re history within the reserve. A trapping Montane Rocky Shrubland, Damp Forest, Low- grid with four transects was established at each land Forest and Heathy Dry Forest (Homan 2008a; Menkhorst and Homan unpubl. data; 88 Th e Victorian Naturalist Contributions

Table 1. List of mammals and numbers recorded. * indicates introduced species.

Common Name Scientifi c Name Number Agile Antechinus Antechinus agilis 9 Dusky Antechinus Antechinus swainsonii mimetes 2 House Mouse Mus musculus * 14 Swamp Rat Rattus lutreolus 75 Bush Rat Rattus fuscipes 58 Black Rat Rattus rattus * 1 RMIT University unpubl.data). However, A. s. gled masses in coastal gullies (Wakefi eld 1975). mimetes, which occupies the remaining Victo- Th e survey site was also subjected to a partial rian distribution, is found only in damp habi- ecological burn in 1999. Two specimens were tats usually with dense vegetation up to 1 m captured in Elliott traps at this site, both fe- above ground level (Menkhorst 1995). Th e spe- males weighing 43 g and 58 g (see back cover). cies has been recorded in Victoria in a range of A number of mammal trapping surveys have areas from Wet Coastal Heathland at sea level been conducted in the Cape Liptrap area over to as high as 1800 m in Alpine Heath (Fig. 1). several decades (Braithwaite et al. 1978; Nor- Th e large patch of Coastal Heathland at Cape ris et al. 1979; Morton et al. 1980; Braithwaite Liptrap Coastal Park contains a number of 1982; Field Naturalists Club of Victoria un- steep, wet gullies, with thick, almost impenetra- publ.data; Mammal Survey Group of Victoria ble vegetation. Dusky Antechinus was captured unpubl.data). It is, however, unclear whether in the head of one of these wet gullies. Th e any of the previous surveys included trapping capture site, which was 140 m above sea level, sites in habitat similar to that which produced was dominated by a large thicket of Scrambling Dusky Antechinus records during the current Coral-Fern Gleichenia microphylla, up to 2.5 survey. Previous surveys have recorded three metres high. Th is fern species oft en forms tan- dasyurid marsupials: Agile Antechinus, Swamp

Fig. 1. Distribution map of Dusky Antechinus in Victoria.

Vol 127 (3) 2010 89 Contributions

Antechinus and White-footed Dunnart; how- provided fi eld assistance. Many thanks to Parks ever, no records are available for Dusky An- Victoria staff at Foster and Tidal River, especially Bill techinus (Victorian Biodiversity Atlas). Gurnett, Scott Griggs and Steve Burns, who provided equipment, logistical support and information on Few sites exist along the South Gippsland survey sites. Th e distribution map of Dusky Antechi- coast with the vegetation structure and topog- nus (Fig.1) was provided by the Victorian Biodiver- raphy that provide the habitat for Dusky An- sity Atlas, Department of Sustainability and Environ- techinus. Th e Wonthaggi Heathlands Nature ment (accessed via the ‘Victorian Fauna Database’ Conservation Reserve (WHNCR), which is May 2009 – Viridans Biological Databases). situated approximately 40 km north-west of References Cape Liptrap, contains large areas of high qual- Braithwaite RW, Cockburn A and Lee AK (1978) Resource ity Coastal Heathland in a generally fl at land- partitioning by small mammals in lowland heath com- munities of south-eastern Australia. Australian Journal of scape, but does not contain habitats with dense, Ecology 3, 423-445. wet vegetation, especially in gullies. Numerous Braithwaite RW (1982) Small marginal groups of Rattus lutreolus in good and poor habitat. Journal of Zoology (Lon- surveys of vertebrate fauna have been con- don) 198, 529-532. ducted in the WHNCR and adjacent coastal re- Heislers S (1993) Small mammal distribution within a seral serve since 1993 (Heislers 1993; Homan 1999; mosaic of Coastal Heathland at Wonthaggi, Victoria. (Un- published MSc thesis, La Trobe University). Homan 2003; Homan 2007; Homan 2008b; Homan P (1999) A survey of mammal fauna in the Wonthaggi RMIT University unpubl.data). Each survey Heathlands and Coastal Reserve. (Unpublished report to confi rmed the presence of two species of dasy- Parks Victoria) Homan P (2003) A Reptile and Amphibian survey of Won- urid marsupial: Swamp Antechinus and White- thaggi Heathland and Coastal Reserve. Th e Victorian Natu- footed Dunnart. Further west the next available ralist 120, 147-152. records for Dusky Antechinus are from the Homan P (2007) A survey of the mammal fauna at Wonthag- gi Heathland Nature Conservation Reserve, South Gipps- Mornington Peninsula (Victorian Biodiversity land. (Unpublished report to Department of Sustainability Atlas). and Environment) Numerous records exist for the Dusky An- Homan P (2008a) A survey of the mammal fauna at Won- thaggi Heathland Nature Conservation Reserve, South techinus from Wilsons Promontory National Gippsland. (Unpublished report to Department of Sustain- Park to the east of Cape Liptrap, in wet heath ability and Environment) Homan P (2008b) Surveys of vertebrate fauna in the Gram- and wet forest (Victorian Biodiversity Atlas). pians National Park, 2003-2007. Th e Victorian Naturalist Further east, the next available coastal records 125, 47-55. are from near Lake Tyers in East Gippsland, ap- Menkhorst PW (ed) (1995) Mammals of Victoria: Distribu- tion, Ecology and Conservation. (Oxford University Press: proximately 210 km north-east of Cape Liptrap South Melbourne) (Victorian Biodiversity Atlas). Th e capture of Menkhorst P and Knight F (2004) A Field Guide to the Mam- Dusky Antechinus in the Cape Liptrap Coastal mals of Australia, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press: South Melbourne) Park was unexpected, especially considering Morton SR, Wainer JW and Th waites TP (1980) Distribution the number of previous surveys, and shows the and habitats of Sminthopsis leucopus and Sminthopsis mu- importance of ongoing fi eld studies of Victoria’s rina (Marsupialia: ) in south-eastern Australia. Australian Mammalogy 3, 19-30. native mammals. Th is is especially so as climate Norris KC, Gilmore AM and Menkhorst PW (1979) Verte- change alters vegetation structure and develop- brate fauna of South Gippsland, Victoria. Memoirs of the ment and human population growth causes fur- National Museum of Victoria 40, 105-199. Wakefi eld NA (1975) Ferns of Victoria and Tasmania (Re- ther fragmentation of wildlife habitat. vised edition by JH Willis). (Field Naturalists Club of Vic- toria: South Yarra). Acknowledgements Th e survey was conducted under the terms of Re- search Permit No. 10004149 issued by the Depart- ment of Sustainability and Environment and Ap- proval No. 0207 of the Wildlife and Small Institutions Received 17 September 2009; accepted 18 March 2010 Ethics Committee of the Department of Primary Industries. Maryrose Morgan of Carlton

90 Th e Victorian Naturalist