Gaultheria viridicarpa (Green Waxberry) and Gaultheria viridicarpa J.B.Williams subsp. viridicarpa ms.

Comment on listing assessment

Invitation to comment

You are invited to provide your views and supporting reasons in relation to the eligibility of two species assessed by the Western Australian Government using the Common Assessment Method for inclusion on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) threatened species list:

Conservation Assessment of Gaultheria viridicarpa J.B.Williams (family Ericaceae) (PDF - 437.14 KB)

You are also invited to provide your views about the eligibility of a subspecies for deletion from the EPBC Act threatened species list:

Gaultheria viridicarpa J.B.Williams subsp. viridicarpa ms Green Waxberry (PDF - 27.06 KB)

Gaultheria viridicarpa J.B.Williams subsp. viridicarpa ms. (Green Waxberry) is currently listed as Vulnerable under the EPBC Act. It was listed as Vulnerable under the former Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 and transferred to the EPBC Act list when it came into force in 2000.

Gaultheria viridicarpa J.B.Williams subsp. viridicarpa ms. refers to the populations of Gaultheria viridicarpa that occur along the Great Escarpment from near Ebor southwards to Point Lookout, approximately 70 km east of Armidale, New South Wales. These populations have been also been recognised as G. v. subsp. viridicarpa.

Another population of the species occurs on the rim of the Mount Warning caldera on the border between New South Wales and Queensland. This population was formerly considered to be a separate subspecies, known as Gaultheria sp. Mt Merino (G.Leiper AQ502686) or Gaultheria viridicarpa subsp. merinoensis.

A taxonomic review in 2012 concluded that the morphological differences between the two subspecies, Gaultheria viridicarpa subsp. viridicarpa and G. v. subsp. merinoensis, were insufficient to represent new species or subspecies. Consequntly, the two subspecies are now synonymous, with the two populations being treated as representative of a single species, G. viridicarpa.

The New South Wales Government has assessed Gaultheria viridicarpa under the Common Assessment Method agreement, in consultation with the Queensland Government. To achieve alignment with the lists of threatened species in New South Wales and Queensland, it is proposed that G. v. J.B.Williams subsp. viridicarpa ms. be deleted from the list of threatened species under the EPBC Act and that G. viridicarpa be included in the Endangered category.

Anyone may nominate a native species, ecological community or key threatening process for listing, transfer to a new category, or deletion from the threatened species list under the EPBC Act. The Threatened Species Scientific Committee (the Committee) undertakes the assessment of species to determine eligibility for inclusion on the list of threatened species and provides its recommendation to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment.