Scientific Committee Secretariat
C/- ScientificCommittee@act.gov.au

 

Re: comment on threatened invertebrate species nominations

Friends of Grasslands (FOG) is a community group dedicated to the conservation of natural temperate grassy ecosystems in south-eastern Australia. FOG advocates, educates and advises on matters to do with the conservation of native grassy ecosystems, and carries out surveys and other on-ground work. FOG is based in Canberra and its members include professional scientists, landowners, land managers and interested members of the public.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the species’ nominations. FOG strongly supports the proposed endangered listings of the Perunga Grasshopper (Perunga ochracea), Canberra Raspy Cricket (Cooraboorama canberrae) and the Murunung Naruwi or Cold Crayfish (Euastacus crassus). The nomination documents are comprehensive and provide strong cases for the listing of all three species.

FOG has a particular interest in the first two species, both of which have a restricted grassy ecosystem distribution. The membership of FOG is daily undertaking management or recreation activities within the grasslands and grassy woodlands across the ACT and surrounding NSW local Government areas.

FOG has been encouraging members to, whenever they observe rare and distinctive grassland Orthoptera, photograph the insect and place the images on Canberra Nature Map for expert identification. Amongst the rare grasshoppers and crickets that our members have been encouraged to record are both Perunga Grasshopper and the Canberra Raspy Cricket as well as Key’s Matchstick Grasshopper (Keyacris scura). All three (or in the case of the Raspy Cricket their burrow) are distinctive, fairly easy to recognise and can be encountered when members are otherwise engaged in activities within their habitat.

The Keyacris is already listed as endangered under ACT, NSW and Commonwealth legislation. The Canberra region provides most of the habitat of all three species. The relative rate of sighting encounters is instructive in terms of supporting the proposed additional two species as endangered, as they appear much less numerous and widespread than Key’s Matchstick Grasshopper.

In the table below, a location is a distinct reserve, private property or suburb.

Species	No. of Canberra Nature Map sightings	Average No. of individuals observed each sighting	No. of separate recorded location
Keyacris scura	179	7.5	53
Perunga ochracea	76	3.3	19
Cooraboorama canberrae	8	1	6

Once again, thank you for the opportunity to comment on the species’ nominations.

Yours sincerely

 

Professor Jamie Pittock

President, Friends of Grasslands

10 February 2025