During early May 2009, a survey of mammal 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 marsupial Dusky Antechinus &lt;i&gt;Antechinus swainsonii&lt;/i&gt;. Numerous surveys of mammals 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

Homan, P

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Contributions
88 Th e Victorian Naturalist
A record of Dusky Antechinus Antechinus swainsonii from Cape Lip-
trap Coastal Park, South Gippsland, Victoria
Peter Homan
409 Cardigan Street, Carlton 3053. Email: peter.homan@rmit.edu.au
Abstract
During early May 2009, a survey of mammal 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 marsupial 
Dusky Antechinus Antechinus swainsonii. Numerous surveys of mammals 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, 
mostly as a coastal strip from Point Smythe, 
near Venus Bay in the west, to Waratah Bay in 
the east. However, a fairly large patch made up 
mostly of Coastal Heathland, extending up to 
2.5 km inland, exists near the eastern end of 
the reserve. Th is section of the park is located 
160 kilometres south-east of Melbourne and is 
covered by Natmap, 1:100,000, sheet No. 8020 
(Wonthaggi). Th e MGA for the central point of 
the large patch mentioned above is 115995. Th e 
reserve is managed by Parks Victoria.
 Th e survey was commissioned by the Depart-
ment of Sustainability and Environment, pri-
marily to determine the possible presence of 
Southern Brown Bandicoot Isoodon obesulus 
and the ongoing presence of Swamp Antechi-
nus Antechinus minimus and White-footed 
Dunnart Sminthopsis leucopus. Th e survey was 
carried out between 4 May 2009 and 9 May 
2009.
Methods
Survey methods included cage trapping (stand-
ard bandicoot traps, Wiretainers Pty Ltd, Pres-
ton, Victoria and R.E.Walters (1899) Pty Ltd, 
Sunshine, Victoria) and Elliott trapping, type 
A (Elliott Scientifi c Equipment, Upwey, Victo-
ria). Th e survey took place in the large vegeta-
tion patch near the eastern end of the park. Five 
survey sites were chosen in habitat considered 
typical for each of the target species. Sites were 
also chosen so as to give the best possible rep-
resentation of the diverse types of vegetation 
and fi re history within the reserve. A trapping 
grid with four transects was established at each 
site. Each transect had fi ve trapping stations, 
with one cage trap and one Elliott trap set one 
to two m apart, at each station. Transects were 
25 m apart and trapping stations were 10 m 
apart. Traps were operated for four nights at 
each site. Baits for Elliott traps consisted of a 
mixture of quick oats, smooth peanut butter 
and honey, with sardines added to the mixture 
for cage traps. A total of 800 trap-nights were 
completed, comprising 400 cage trap-nights 
and 400 Elliott trap-nights.
Results
Six species of mammals were recorded during 
the survey. Four species were eutherian and two 
were marsupial. Four species were native and 
two were introduced (Table 1). No captures of 
individuals of the three target species occurred 
at any of the survey sites. Two species of dasyu-
rid marsupials were detected: Agile Antechinus 
Antechinus agilis was recorded at three sites and 
Dusky Antechinus Antechinus swainsonii mim-
etes was recorded at one site.
Discussion
Th e Dusky Antechinus is a small, terrestrial, 
carnivorous marsupial, found over a wide 
area of south-eastern Australia from southern 
Queensland to south-west Victoria and west-
ern Tasmania (Menkhorst and Knight 2004). 
In Victoria, two subspecies are recognised: A. 
swainsonii insularis is confi ned to the Gram-
pians where it has been recorded recently in a 
range of wet and dry environments including 
Montane Rocky Shrubland, Damp Forest, Low-
land Forest and Heathy Dry Forest (Homan 
2008a; Menkhorst and Homan unpubl. data; 
Contributions
89Vol 127 (3) 2010
RMIT University unpubl.data). However, A. s. 
mimetes, which occupies the remaining Victo-
rian distribution, is found only in damp habi-
tats usually with dense vegetation up to 1 m 
above ground level (Menkhorst 1995). Th e spe-
cies has been recorded in Victoria in a range of 
areas from Wet Coastal Heathland at sea level 
to as high as 1800 m in Alpine Heath (Fig. 1).
 Th e large patch of Coastal Heathland at Cape 
Liptrap Coastal Park contains a number of 
steep, wet gullies, with thick, almost impenetra-
ble vegetation. Dusky Antechinus was captured 
in the head of one of these wet gullies. Th e 
capture site, which was 140 m above sea level, 
was dominated by a large thicket of Scrambling 
Coral-Fern Gleichenia microphylla, up to 2.5 
metres high. Th is fern species oft en forms tan-
gled masses in coastal gullies (Wakefi eld 1975). 
Th e survey site was also subjected to a partial 
ecological burn in 1999. Two specimens were 
captured in Elliott traps at this site, both fe-
males weighing 43 g and 58 g (see back cover). 
A number of mammal trapping surveys have 
been conducted in the Cape Liptrap area over 
several decades (Braithwaite et al. 1978; Nor-
ris et al. 1979; Morton et al. 1980; Braithwaite 
1982; Field Naturalists Club of Victoria un-
publ.data; Mammal Survey Group of Victoria 
unpubl.data). It is, however, unclear whether 
any of the previous surveys included trapping 
sites in habitat similar to that which produced 
Dusky Antechinus records during the current 
survey. Previous surveys have recorded three 
dasyurid marsupials: Agile Antechinus, Swamp 
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
Fig. 1. Distribution map of Dusky Antechinus in Victoria.
Contributions
90 Th e Victorian Naturalist
Antechinus and White-footed Dunnart; how-
ever, no records are available for Dusky An-
techinus (Victorian Biodiversity Atlas).
 Few sites exist along the South Gippsland 
coast with the vegetation structure and topog-
raphy that provide the habitat for Dusky An-
techinus. Th e Wonthaggi Heathlands Nature 
Conservation Reserve (WHNCR), which is 
situated approximately 40 km north-west of 
Cape Liptrap, contains large areas of high qual-
ity Coastal Heathland in a generally fl at land-
scape, but does not contain habitats with dense, 
wet vegetation, especially in gullies. Numerous 
surveys of vertebrate fauna have been con-
ducted in the WHNCR and adjacent coastal re-
serve since 1993 (Heislers 1993; Homan 1999; 
Homan 2003; Homan 2007; Homan 2008b; 
RMIT University unpubl.data). Each survey 
confi rmed the presence of two species of dasy-
urid marsupial: Swamp Antechinus and White-
footed Dunnart. Further west the next available 
records for Dusky Antechinus are from the 
Mornington Peninsula (Victorian Biodiversity 
Atlas).
 Numerous records exist for the Dusky An-
techinus from Wilsons Promontory National 
Park to the east of Cape Liptrap, in wet heath 
and wet forest (Victorian Biodiversity Atlas). 
Further east, the next available coastal records 
are from near Lake Tyers in East Gippsland, ap-
proximately 210 km north-east of Cape Liptrap 
(Victorian Biodiversity Atlas). Th e capture of 
Dusky Antechinus in the Cape Liptrap Coastal 
Park was unexpected, especially considering 
the number of previous surveys, and shows the 
importance of ongoing fi eld studies of Victoria’s 
native mammals. Th is is especially so as climate 
change alters vegetation structure and develop-
ment and human population growth causes fur-
ther fragmentation of wildlife habitat.
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 
Animal Ethics Committee of the Department of 
Primary Industries. Maryrose Morgan of Carlton 
provided fi eld assistance. Many thanks to Parks 
Victoria staff  at Foster and Tidal River, especially Bill 
Gurnett, Scott Griggs and Steve Burns, who provided 
equipment, logistical support and information on 
survey sites. Th e distribution map of Dusky Antechi-
nus (Fig.1) was provided by the Victorian Biodiver-
sity Atlas, Department of Sustainability and Environ-
ment (accessed via the ‘Victorian Fauna Database’ 
May 2009 – Viridans Biological Databases).
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Received 17 September 2009; accepted 18 March 2010


A record of Dusky Antechinus Antechinus swainsonii from Cape Liptrap Coastal Park, South Gippsland, Victoria

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