A LIST of the VERTEBRATES of SOUTH AUSTRALIA
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A LIST of the VERTEBRATES of SOUTH AUSTRALIA updates. for Edition 4th Editors See A.C. Robinson K.D. Casperson Biological Survey and Research Heritage and Biodiversity Division Department for Environment and Heritage, South Australia M.N. Hutchinson South Australian Museum Department of Transport, Urban Planning and the Arts, South Australia 2000 i EDITORS A.C. Robinson & K.D. Casperson, Biological Survey and Research, Biological Survey and Research, Heritage and Biodiversity Division, Department for Environment and Heritage. G.P.O. Box 1047, Adelaide, SA, 5001 M.N. Hutchinson, Curator of Reptiles and Amphibians South Australian Museum, Department of Transport, Urban Planning and the Arts. GPO Box 234, Adelaide, SA 5001updates. for CARTOGRAPHY AND DESIGN Biological Survey & Research, Heritage and Biodiversity Division, Department for Environment and Heritage Edition Department for Environment and Heritage 2000 4thISBN 0 7308 5890 1 First Edition (edited by H.J. Aslin) published 1985 Second Edition (edited by C.H.S. Watts) published 1990 Third Edition (edited bySee A.C. Robinson, M.N. Hutchinson, and K.D. Casperson) published 2000 Cover Photograph: Clockwise:- Western Pygmy Possum, Cercartetus concinnus (Photo A. Robinson), Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko, Nephrurus levis (Photo A. Robinson), Painted Frog, Neobatrachus pictus (Photo A. Robinson), Desert Goby, Chlamydogobius eremius (Photo N. Armstrong),Osprey, Pandion haliaetus (Photo A. Robinson) ii _______________________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS _____________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 METHODS ........................................................................................................................ 9 MAMMALS ...................................................................................................................... 13 BIRDS ...................................................................................................................... 37 REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS ............................................................................................... 99 FRESHWATER FISHES..................................................................................................... 129 INDEX .................................................................................................................... 135 updates. for Edition 4th See iii updates. for Edition 4th See iv Acknowledgments This project would not have been possible without the cooperation and efforts of the following people: For the bird chapter we gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Maya Penck, Jamie Matthew, Marianne Anthony, John Cox, John Eckert and Graham Carpenter. Assistance in the production of the maps was provided by Stuart Pillman and Paul Gullan updates. for Edition 4th See v updates. for Edition 4th See vi A List of the Vertebrates of South Australia _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This list includes all species of vertebrate animals 10. A distribution map (not provided for cetaceans or reliably reported to have occurred in South Australia as freshwater fish) free-living forms during the period of European In the case of mammals and freshwater fish some settlement of the State. It has been prepared from a additional higher taxonomic levels have been included variety of published sources (the major ones of which to match the most recent published guides. are cited in the various sections), and from the specimen collections of the South Australian Museum, The sequence in which orders are listed is determined records of the biological survey of South Australia and by the conventions for each of the various groups, and the RAOU Bird Atlas of Australia. The list is now in its is indicated in the tables at the beginning of each of the third edition following Aslin (1985) and Watts (1990), sections together with summaries of the number of and is designed as a counterpart to ‘A list of the families and species in each. Within orders (and sub- Vascular Plants of South Australia’ (Jessop, 1993). orders for mammals), families are listed in the sequence Both these taxonomic lists, in computerised form, used in the most recent guides. Within families (or sub- support the Biological Survey of South Australia, families in some cases), genera and species are listed which is coordinated by the South Australian alphabetically. Biological Survey Coordinating Committee. Distribution maps are provided for all species except The order in which the vertebrate groups are presented cetaceans and freshwater fish. Some indication of fish is as follows: distribution is provided in terms of the environmental provinces of Laut et al (1977). Figure 1 shows the 1. Mammals province boundaries. 2. Birds updates. 3. Reptiles The only introduced species (ie. alien to Australia) 4. Amphibians included are those which are believed to have 5. Freshwater Fishes forestablished true feral populations. In the case of a few freshwater fish, these feral populations are only In each section, the list contains the following items of maintained by regular re-introductions. information for each currently recognised species: This is not a taxonomic checklist but primarily a 1. Order species index. It is intended as a reference source and 2. Family Edition guide for those working on South Australian 3. Genus vertebrates, but not necessarily familiar with the latest 4. Notation for an introduced species (an asterisk) taxonomy. 5. Species 4th It should be borne in mind that taxonomic changes are 6. Author and date of publication of specific continually being made and new distributional description information is accumulating so that no listing can be 7. Common name(s) completely up to date. This list will be revised and 8. Threatened status in AustraliaSee (in bold) updated in future and any comments or queries should 9. Threatened status in South Australia (non-bold) be directed to the relevant curator or collection manager at the South Australian Museum. REFERENCES Aslin, H. J. (1985) (ed.). A List of the Vertebrates of Jessop, J. P. (Ed.) (1993). A list of the Vascular Plants South Australia. 1st Edition. Biological Survey of South Australia (Edition IV). The Botanic Coordinating Committee and the Department Gardens of Adelaide and State Herbarium. of Environment and Planning, South Australia. Laut, P. L., Heyligers, P. C., Keig, G., Loffler, E.. Watts, C. H. S. (1990) (ed.). A List of the Vertebrates Margules, C., Scott, R. M. and Sullivan, M. E. of South Australia 2nd Edition. Biological (1977). Environments of South Australia. Survey Coordinating Committee and the Division of Land Use Research, CSIRO, Department of Environment and Planning, Canberra. South Australia. updates. for Edition 4th See 8 _______________________________________________________________________________________________ A List of the Vertebrates of South Australia Methods DISTRIBUTION MAPS 2).Grid cell records from the South Australian component of the Royal Australasian The production of distribution maps for this Third Ornithologists’ Union (now Birds Australia) Atlas Edition of the vertebrate list has been possible because of Australian Birds (Blakers, Davies and Reilly, of the development of a biological database for South 1984) Australia by Viridans Pty Ltd. The South Australian 3) Site-based records from the Biological Survey of Biodiversity database contains a series of standard site South Australia SURVEY and OPPORTUNE or grid cell based data on the mammals, birds, reptiles databases, all of which were observational only. and amphibians of South Australia that can be readily combined and plotted on a series of map bases. The Reptiles and Amphibians maps include data added to the Viridans database to The grid database is composed of the following August 1998. Some additional individually prepared components: maps have been included to show species found in the 1) Specimen records from the SA Museum with the State since the most recent database preparation and to exception of records that did not have a sufficiently clarify recent taxonomic decisions not yet included in accurate location or have not been identified to the database species. For a minority of taxonomically difficult speciesupdates. only SA Museum records were used as The simplest plotting method has been chosen here, observational records were not sufficiently reliable. based on a 10΄ X 10΄ latitude longitude grid over the 2) Site-based records from the Biological Survey of state. For each grid cell to be filled in requires at least forSouth Australia SURVEY and OPPORTUNE one record of the species to occur within it. For databases. Many of these records were accompanied common species some grid cells may represent a by a voucher specimen lodged in the SA Museum number of individual records. For simplicity no but a proportion are observational only. distinction has been made regarding the age of the record and details of how each taxonomic group is Freshwater Fish treated in the grid database are given below. Edition No maps are provided, as an appropriate computer database is not yet available Mammals The grid database is composed 4thof the