Activity patterns and detection rates of red-legged pademelons (Thylogale stigmatica) in tropical north Queensland and temperate north-eastern New South Wales
Karl Vernes
A C , Todd F. Elliott A and Kelsey Elliott B
A Ecosystem Management, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
B Integrative Studies Department, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, NC 28778, USA.
C Corresponding author. Email: kvernes@une.edu.au
Australian Mammalogy 44(2) 295-298 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM21021
Submitted: 5 July 2021 Accepted: 10 September 2021 Published: 29 October 2021
Abstract
Red-legged pademelons (Thylogale stigmatica) occur as several subspecies in eastern Australia. The northern subspecies (T. stigmatica stigmatica) in north Queensland is considered common; the southern subspecies (T. stigmatica wilcoxi) in north-eastern New South Wales is, by comparison, rare and is listed as threatened. Activity patterns should also vary between these subspecies because T. s. stigmatica emerges from the forest at night to graze, whereas T. s. wilcoxi remains in the forest throughout the 24-h cycle. Using camera traps, we detected pademelons at a greater rate at a Queensland site occupied by T. s. stigmatica than at a New South Wales site inhabited by T. s. wilcoxi; this result is consistent with their conservation status. However, pademelons at these sites displayed remarkably similar activity patterns within rainforest over the 24-h period, a result that was unexpected based on what is known of their diel behaviour.
Keywords: abundance, camera trapping, Macropodidae, mammal behaviour, mammal ecology, marsupial, pademelon, threatened species.
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