Invertebrate Conservation Issue

The Eltham Copper pyrodiscus lucida Crosby (: ): local versus state conservation strategies in Victoria

AA Canzano,1, 3 TR New1 and Alan L Yen2 1Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086 2Department of Primary Industries, 621 Burwood Highway, Knoxfield, Victoria 3156 3Corresponding author

Abstract This paper summarises some aspects of the practical conservation needs of the Eltham Copper Butterfly Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida, a small threatened subspecies of butterfly endemic to Victoria, Australia. The butterfly is located in three disjunct regions, separated by hundreds of kilo- metres across the state as a result of habitat removal and degradation. The three areas of ECB occur- rence each have distinct characteristics affecting the needs and intensity of conservation manage- ment on the various sites given their urban, regional and rural settings. Butterfly populations have been monitored nearly every year since 1988 with the active support of volunteers, ‘Friends of Eltham Copper Butterfly’, local councils and government agencies. This information has contributed to a more holistic management regime for the butterfly, and further research aims to elucidate the more intricate details of the butterfly’s biology, to continue to refine the current monitoring process across the state of Victoria. (The Victorian Naturalist 124 (4), 2007, 236-242) Introduction The Eltham Copper Butterfly Paralucia nests by day, around the base of the food pyrodiscus lucida Crosby (ECB) is a plant. ECB is unusual in that populations Victorian endemic subspecies of the dull have been monitored nearly every year copper. In common with many other since 1988 with the active support and par- Australian Lycaenidae, it has declined in ticipation of community volunteers, such range, and has become one of the best- as the ‘Friends of the Eltham Copper’, and known butterfly taxa in Victoria since a parallel groups associated with reserves in thriving colony was discovered in Eltham, Castlemaine and Kiata. With their help, outer Melbourne, in 1987. Before that, it counts have been made both of caterpillars had been believed by many people to have and adult each season. become extinct through site loss caused by In this note, we summarise some aspects urban development since it was described of the practical conservation needs of the from Greensborough in 1951. ECB was subspecies, and draw attention to (a) differ- amongst the first invertebrates to be listed ences between the management needs of under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act ECB in three disjunct regions in which the 1988, and has become a powerful ambas- butterfly occurs and (b) differences sador for conservation in the state. It between the various sites in the Eltham is one of few Australian butterflies for area, for which different agencies have pri- which dedicated reserves have been desig- mary management responsibility. Early nated for its conservation. The butterfly’s conservation management plans and status biology, outlined by Braby (1990) and evaluations (Crosby 1987; Vaughan 1988) Braby et al. (1992, 1999), is reasonably have continued to form the basis for more well understood. Endersby (1996) also recent advances, and enabled progress contributed to the biology and behaviour toward more holistic management. The of ECB with detailed field observations of conservation of the ECB is overseen by the each of its life history stages. The senior Eltham Copper Butterfly Working Group, author of this paper is currently completing which comprises representatives of the var- more detailed research on the ECB as part ious management agencies for the different of a higher degree dissertation. Caterpillars ECB sites, entomologists, scientists from feed nocturnally on spinosa, and other relevant disciplines, and the relevant are tended by of the . Friends groups. They are harboured in the subterranean

236 The Victorian Naturalist Invertebrate Conservation Issue

Fig. 1. The Eltham Copper Butterfly locations at Kiata. The Kiata Flora Reserve has two sites, one by the highway (1) and the other in the centre of the reserve (2). There is a small colony at the Salisbury Flora Reserve (3).

Distribution and its conservation spring. In contrast, two distinct generations implications occur in the Kiata area, where adults of the The current distribution of the Eltham first generation appear from mid-October, Copper Butterfly is believed to represent and of the second generation, in February. the outcome of considerable range reduc- Phenology at Castlemaine also implies that tion and habitat loss and fragmentation, to only one generation may occur. Different leave three highly disjunct areas where the species of Notoncus host the caterpillars in butterfly now occurs (Figs. 1–3). Within different parts of the range: N. capitatus at each region, the butterfly exhibits charac- Eltham and Castlemaine, and N. ectatom- teristic patterns of seasonal development, moides at Kiata. and within each the distribution is patchy The three areas of ECB occurrence each and far less extensive than that of either have distinct characteristics affecting the the larval food plant or the host ant. needs and intensity of conservation man- Phenology and development differs some- agement on the various sites. what in the different regions, reflecting cli- (a) Kiata and Salisbury, in north-western matic differences, and leading to different Victoria, harbour populations on sever- monitoring needs in each area. At Eltham, al rural sites with patchy Bursaria, a clear univoltine pattern occurs, but with within a largely pastoral area. Three late emergences of adults in some years small colonies of the butterfly are giving the appearance of a second genera- known on large flora reserves (Fig. 1). tion. Adults are present from November to (b) Castlemaine. Two peri-urban sites sup- March, occasionally later. Eggs are laid port butterfly colonies, one within the from November, and young caterpillars Botanic Gardens, and others, more eclose in December, foraging little during recently discovered, in Kalimna Park. the winter months but resuming regular These sites represent an urban/rural activity as the weather warms in early transition, and are surrounded by a mix-

Vol. 124 (4) 2007 237 Invertebrate Conservation Issue

Fig. 2. The Eltham Copper Butterfly sites at Castlemaine are located in the Botanic Gardens and in Kalimna Park (3 and 4). The population at the Botanic Gardens has moved from 1 to 2 since monitoring began. ture of residential development, natural within reserves with wider conservation bushland and grazing lands with ongo- responsibility. The sites thereby span the ing subdivision for urban development range from large rural sites to small urban (Fig. 2). ones. These are associated with different (c) Eltham/Greensborough, in outer north threats and different opportunities for the eastern Melbourne, where the butterfly butterfly to disperse and track resources. occurs on several small (1-3 ha) urban Thus the larger sites afford opportunity for remnant patches, surrounded and iso- population movement impossible on the lated by housing. Six major colonies small Eltham sites. are known, some of them small (Fig. Systematic annual larval and adult counts 3). The largest population, at the have been made at all three locations since Western Colony, comprises fewer than 1993.These have been conducted by pro- 800-1000 individuals. fessional entomologists (Van Praagh 1996; All sites are nominally protected, some Canzano, unpubl. data), Department of as dedicated reserves, and some by being Susutainability and Environment, Parks

238 The Victorian Naturalist Invertebrate Conservation Issue

Victoria, and the Friends groups (Friends which acts as a clearing house and coordi- of the Eltham Copper Butterfly and nator of information accruing. Friends of Kalimna Park). These annual Management needs, and the capacity to counts have provided significant informa- undertake effective management, differ tion on distribution and relative abun- substantially across the different areas. At dances of ECB, but the nature, intensity Kiata/Salisbury and Castlemaine the and frequency of counts required to pro- potential habitat and sites are sufficiently vide reliable quantitative data on ECB in extensive to facilitate a mosaic of condi- these reserves remains uncertain. The tions within the area, and for the butterfly results are influenced by weather condi- populations to track these as they change, tions and differences in individual observer so that the butterfly presence and distribu- acuity. tion may differ from year to year, or across a longer time scale. Thus, the major colony Progress toward effective conservation in the Castlemaine Botanic Gardens has As for other butterflies in Victoria, surveys moved from its stronghold in the early continue to yield new information, both of 1990s to another site some hundreds of detail and scale, with recent discoveries of metres away. Such microscale population ‘new’ colonies in Kalimna Park of consid- movements are by no means unusual in erable interest. Only through community butterflies as conditions change, with some awareness can such events be effectively species surviving continuously in a suite of documented and publicised. ECB conser- habitat patches, only some of which are vation is broadly overseen by a statewide occupied at any time, on a site and with the management group, with representation population sustained through a series of from all range areas, state and municipal ‘colonisation-extinction-recolonisation’ agencies, and independent scientists, and

Fig. 3. The Eltham Copper Butterfly sites at Greensborough (1) and Eltham (2-6). The Greensborough site is Yandell's Reserve, while the Eltham sites are the Pauline Toner Reserve (2), the Western colony (3), the Eastern colony (4), the former Yarra Valley Water land (5) and Hohne's Hill (6). The Pitt St Reserve is on the south side of Pitt St adjacent to the Pauline Toner Reserve.

Vol. 124 (4) 2007 239 Invertebrate Conservation Issue sequences across the landscape: part of the small areas and by urbanisation on essen- system constituting a possible ‘metapopu- tially isolated populations. Factors such as lation’ structure. This may be particularly runoff, rubbish dumping, weed invasion, pronounced at Kiata/Salisbury, where the vandalism and general human traffic con- Bursaria is very patchy on the sites, and tribute severally and collectively to habitat movement between food plant patches degradation. Issues of human concern from (which are also a nectar source for adults) neighbouring residents also occur. For is necessary. example, accumulation of fuel on the sites In contrast, this process and population is perceived to increase the risks of wild- structure is thwarted on small sites. At fire to property. Many of these anthro- Eltham, for example, there seems little, if pogenic effects are of minimal importance any, chance that butterflies can disperse on the more rural sites, in the context of between the major site-based colonies, sustaining critical resources for the butter- because the intervening terrain is highly fly. At Kiata, encroachment of agricultural altered to comprise houses and roads, so crops on to ECB habitat, and rabbit/hare that all population processes have to occur grazing on Bursaria are concerns. At (and be sustained) within the confines of Castlemaine, activities such as trail-bike single small sites, each of which harbours riding have caused some concerns at a discrete population. There is currently lit- Kalimna Park, in addition to weed invasion tle or no opportunity for genetic exchange and rabbit grazing. between those demographic units. Mark- Differences in site scale are linked with release-recapture studies have not shown threat intensity. Almost inevitably, details exchange of individuals between colonies. of the management needed are site-specif- However, enhancement of habitat connec- ic, but the additional implication is that on tivity through carefully planned revegeta- very small sites, the butterfly is ‘conserva- tion of roadside verges and residential tion dependent’ and that continuing man- properties with the host plant, to allow for agement on each site is necessary and must ‘corridors’ for the butterfly, may thereby be assured. Long term agency commitment facilitate movement between habitat patch- is therefore needed, and can be very diffi- es. Undiscovered colonies may still occur, cult to obtain, despite considerable good- even in the highly urbanised Eltham loca- will. Elsewhere, more sporadic manage- tion, where additional dedicated reserves ment to address particular threats may be a for the ECB have been identified over the less intensive (i.e. cheaper) but viable last five years. These include a block at option. Again, the interest of individual Pitt Street at the top end of the Pauline people is a vital component of ensuring Toner Reserve (Yen 2002) and the Yarra effective monitoring and management of Valley Water property that abuts the these sites. At all sites, monitoring is a fun- Eastern Colony. It may be possible to damental component of assessing manage- ‘link’ some of these Eltham reserves with ment need by tracking changes as they appropriate planting of Bursaria in private occur and adapting management accord- gardens between them. Management must ingly. For example, grazing of Bursaria by thus focus on sustaining critical resources hares at Kiata led to the erection of fencing in exploitable form in the same small to protect critical bushes. Vehicular tracks areas, rather than in a wider landscape at Kalimna Park have been blocked or ren- mosaic, and must therefore counter natural dered inaccessible to casual visitors. processes (such as succession) to a greater Continuing management needs around extent than on larger sites. Eltham include: The underlying ecological differences (a) control of exotic weeds and main- between the larger and smaller sites dictate tenance or enhancement of Bursaria; in part the nature of threats and the (b) maintenance of conditions suitable for emphasis of alleviative management. Notoncus; Management is necessarily more intensive (c) prevention of overshading, for example on small sites, to counter ecological by canopy closure; processes and the more proximal anthro- (d) removal of fallen debris, as a fuel pogenic threats wrought by edge effects on reduction measure;

240 The Victorian Naturalist Invertebrate Conservation Issue

(e) minimising inappropriate inputs, such Timing and intensity of all management as diverted water runoff, into the is informed by monitoring of the butterfly, reserves; both as adults and caterpillars. Intensive (f) undertaking any such measures in monitoring was initiated by Van Praagh concert with conservation needed for (1996), augmented by some student pro- other significant species on each site; jects on coppicing of by (g) continuing to foster interest of local the Eltham Copper butterfly (Carroll et al. people in the conservation process, 1998) and observations on larval feeding through volunteer programmes and behaviour as well as germination of education. Bursaria spinosa seeds (O’Sullivan et al. Other management measures include 1999). Recent studies on caterpillar mobil- coppicing of old Bursaria to promote fresh ity, feeding behaviour and frequency, and growth, enhancement of Bursaria by plant- adult dispersal involving marking individ- ing (using plants from local seed stocks), uals and tracking them in their environ- and hand removal of weeds (particularly ments (Canzano, unpubl. data) are aiding on sites where rare orchids and other plants refinement of the monitoring process, and occur). The last is important on a few sites, may help to reduce some of the current on which even moderate human trampling uncertainties over interpretations of inter- pressure or less sensitive control measures generational changes in numbers (Johnson such as herbicide use could prove harmful. 2002) and increase predictive capability. Some such management has been highly Such recent biological insights will feed experimental, even risky, as with the deci- directly into a refined plan for conserva- sion to burn two major butterfly sites (the tion of the Eltham Copper, in which the ‘Western Colony’ and ‘Eastern Colony’) at biological differences and opportunities in Eltham to ‘rejuvenate’ them and help the different sectors of its range will be reduce canopy closure and weed popula- treated both individually and in concert for tions. Such drastic intervention was con- a more holistic overview of management sidered necessary as the major avenue to for its future. Without them, or without counter continuing decline in site quality, appreciating the influences of the different and in site capacity to host the butterfly sites on the butterfly’s potential for sur- (New et al. 2000). A ‘hot fire’ in April vival, management may be severely 1998, a time when the caterpillars were impoverished through inadequate ecologi- already present and moderately grown, cal focus. A prime purpose of the Eltham involved numerous people and fire brigade Copper Butterfly Working Group is to units, and also involved considerable risk address such issues, and to hone manage- to the butterfly population, but was ment so that the best possible options are endorsed on the grounds that should the understood and available, both now and for site become inhospitable that population application in the future, perhaps to addi- was in any case doomed. Needs for plan- tional populations should they be discov- ning the burn were for it to be as hot as ered or founded deliberately. Whilst these possible (to open canopy and destroy exot- notes have been confined to field popula- ic weed seedbanks), as late in the summer tions, a captive breeding programme for as possible (to allow caterpillars maximum the butterfly is also contemplated by the feeding time before their food supply was Melbourne Zoo, as an investment in the lost), during the day (when caterpillars are future of this notable Victorian insect. underground so not exposed directly to the Further research on the ECB is necessary flames and heat), undertaken only under because of the need for information on the ‘safe’ weather conditions, and to extend biology and ecology of Notoncus ants in over much of the site, except for small relation to the ECB, the genetics of the damped down areas in which caterpillars ECB, and ECB-Bursaria interactions to were particularly abundant. Most caterpil- assist its conservation. lars indeed survived, and the ensuing adult population was not conspicuously dimin- Acknowledgements This paper is written on behalf of the ECB ished. Working Group and the authors wish to acknowledge the input of the members of this

Vol. 124 (4) 2007 241 Invertebrate Conservation Issue

Group. The Group is indebted to the many Lepidoptera) Vol 6. pp. 247-260. Eds RL Kitching, E volunteers, environmental officers and scientific Scheermeyer, RE Jones and NE Pierce (CSIRO researchers, whose enthusiasm and hard work Publishing: Melbourne) Carroll E, Cleary S, Goddard B and Mumby K (1998) has contributed to the successful monitoring and Melbourne’s butterfly and moth communities. management of the Eltham Copper Butterfly Horticultural Research Report, Burnley College, The populations in Victoria. Michael Braby, David University of Melbourne. Crosby and Patrick Vaughan are commended Crosby DF (1987) The national conservation status of for their early biological research and establish- the Eltham Copper Butterfly (Paralucia pyrodiscus ment of the Conservation Management Plan. lucida Crosby) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Arthur Thanks to Beverley Van Praagh for leading long Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands, term monitoring and reassessment of the moni- Technical Report Series No. 81 (Department of toring programme at all Victorian sites, Steve Conservation, Forests and Lands: Melbourne) Anderson for his work as the first Parks ranger Endersby ID (1996) Some aspects of the biology and involved in managing the Eltham reserves and behaviour of Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida Crosby Leigh Ahern for initially co-coordinating the (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) at Eltham, Victoria. ECB Working Group. The support of past and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 107, present staff of the various management 83-94. Johnson C (2002) Investigation of the Monitoring authorities is gratefully acknowledged. In partic- Methods and Larval Biology of Paralucia pyrodiscus ular, we would like to thank Alan Webster, lucida (Eltham Copper Butterfly). Unpublished BSc David Venn, Peter Johnson and Glenn Rudolph Hons Thesis, Department of Forest Science, (Department of Sustainability and University of Melbourne. Environment), David Avery and Cam Beardsell New TR, Van Praagh BD and Yen AL (2000) Fire and (Parks Victoria), Jonathon Miller (Nillumbik the management of habitat quality in an Australian Shire Council), Patrick Vaughan (City of Lycaenid butterfly, Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida Crosby, the Eltham Copper. Metamorphosis 11, 154- Banyule) and Jenni Thomas (formerly NC 163. CMA). David Cameron (DSE); Patrick Honan O’Sullivan C, Thompson J, and Whitelaw A (1999) and Robert Anderson (Melbourne Zoo) also The return of the Lepidopterans: The establishment contributed to the ECB programme in their areas and management of plants and habitats for the recre- of expertise. Many volunteers have dedicated ation of Melbourne’s Lepidopteran communities. their time and enthusiasm to monitoring both the Horticultural Research Report, Burnley College, The larval and adult stages of the ECB, as well as University of Melbourne. Van Praagh BD (1996) Adult and Larval Counts of the habitat management works through weed and Eltham Copper Butterfly, Paralucia pyrodiscus luci- rubbish removal and replanting host plants. da Crosby, 1993-1995. Flora and Fauna Technical Many thanks to Mary Argall and the Friends of Report No. 144. (Department of Natural Resources Kiata Flora Reserve; Geoff Hannon and the and Environment: Melbourne) Friends of Kalimna Park; Anna Richtarik; and Vaughan PJ (1988) Management Plan for the Eltham Wayne Kinrade and the Friends of the Eltham Copper Butterfly (Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida Copper Butterfly. Crosby) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Conservation Forests and Lands – Technical Report Series No. 79. References (Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands: Braby MF (1990) The life history and biology of Melbourne) Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida Crosby (Lepidoptera: Yen AL (2002) The Status of the Eltham Copper Lycaenidae). Journal of the Australian Butterfly, Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida Crosby Entomological Society 29, 41-50. (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), and Significance of Braby MF, Crosby DF and Vaughan PJ (1992) Colonies at 220 Pitt Street, Eltham. Unpublished Distribution and range reduction in Victoria of the Report to the Shire of Nillumbik. Eltham Copper Butterfly Paralucia pyrodiscus luci- da Crosby. The Victorian Naturalist 109, 155-161. Braby MF, Van Praagh BD and New TR (1999) The dull copper Paralucia pyrodiscus. In Biology of Received 29 March 2007; accepted 31 May 2007 Australian Butterflies (Monographs of Australian

One hundred and One Years Ago Mr F.G.A. Barnard made some remarks on the larvae and perfect beetles of the Golden Beetle, Lamprima rutilans, which he had recently taken from a red gum verandah post at Kew. The post had been in its present position for more than twenty years, and therefore the larvae of the beetle must have got into it since it was placed in its present position. Over twenty larvae and perfect beetles were obtained, the larvae resembling very closely those usually regarded as the larvae of the Cockchafer, Anoplognathus, sp. The perfect beetles were all of small size, but very highly coloured. From The Victorian Naturalist, XXIII p 116, October 4, 1906

242 The Victorian Naturalist