Diverse Wildlife, Plants Join Threatened Species List

Twenty-five plants (including a seaweed), five reptiles, one marsupial, a fish, an insect and a mollusc have been added to Australia's threatened species list.

They include:

The lemuroid ringtail possum of north Queensland, which is highly vulnerable to global warming. As temperatures rise, the possums are forced to live at higher and higher elevations on their mountain homes in the Wet Tropics rainforests.

The Glossy grass skink, which lives in Tasmania's north-east and has been severely impacted by clearing and drainage of its swampy natural habitat for agriculture, urban spread and logging operations.

The Mt Donna Buang wingless stonefly, is found in a single square kilometre area on Mt Donna Buang, east of Melbourne. It is the only Australian stonefly that hatches in the snow. It is highly vulnerable to a heating climate.

"Australia has so many unusual and amazing species, yet an increasing number are threatened with extinction," said the Australian Conservation Foundation's national nature campaigner Jess Abrahams.

"Creatures like the lemuroid ringtail possum in the rainforests of the Wet Tropics and Victoria's extraordinary Mt Donna Buang wingless stonefly are highly vulnerable to climate change, while Tasmania's glossy grass skink has had much of its habitat taken over.

"By being added to the threatened species list, all of these creatures are now 'matters of national environmental significance' under Australia's national nature law, which was strengthened by the parliament late last year.

"Environment Minister Murray Watt needs to make sure the new rules governing matters of national significance, which are still being developed, are strong enough to protect threatened species and their habitats.

"ACF will be looking for the new EPA to be independent and well-resourced, so these species get the protection they need in a heating climate," he said.

As of February 2026, Australia has 2316 nationally threatened plants, animals and ecosystems (694 fauna, 1514 flora and 108 ecological communities).