Common name
King Island Scrubtit
Scientific name
Acanthornis magnus greenianus
EPBC status
Critically Endangered
Found in
Tasmania
Description
King Island Scrubtits are a very small, secretive-natured birds about 11-12cm in length, weighing up to 11 grams.
King Island Scrubtits are only found on King Island where widespread clearance of native vegetation and wildfires have led to habitat loss. There may now be fewer than 50 individuals remaining.
The scrubtits live in remnant patches of mature swamp paperbark (Melaleuca ericifolia) forest and other forest communities containing these paperbarks that have a dense understory. They make woven, domed nests near the ground and feed on insects and other invertebrates among bark, litter and foliage.
Key threats
- Fire in swamp paperbark forest.
- Trampling and grazing by native and farm animals damaging habitat.
- Predation by cats.
- Loss of genetic diversity with very small and dispersed population.
Priority actions
- Work with private landholders to retain and protect habitat from clearing and herbivore impacts.
- Develop and implement fast-response fire protection plans for occupied sites.
- Restore isolated remnant vegetation patches, build corridors to link populations.
- Targeted control of feral cats around habitat patches where King Island Scrubtits persist, alongside community education about responsible cat ownership for domestic and farm cats.
- Clarify genetic diversity and risk of inbreeding.
Protecting threatened species
We will be updating these Threatened Species Action Plan profiles to include:
- projects to support species recovery
- information on their trajectory.
Please check back for updates.
Read our Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032.
Read more
Further information on this species, including links to conservation planning documents can be found here: Species Profile and Threats database — King Island Scrubtit
Sources
The key threats and priority actions come from conservation planning documents and the Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. We have made some adjustments based on new information. It is not a list of all plausible threats and relevant actions, but a subset of each that are high impact and can be feasibly addressed over the life of the Action Plan to improve trajectories for the priority species.