Southern Blossom Bat (Syconycteris australis)

Conservation status

New South Wales, Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016: Vulnerable.

Breeding season

The timing below combines the reported March and October mating periods with the documented 3.5 to 4 month gestation and 6 to 8 week dependency period. Timing can vary between coastal and inland sites and between flowering communities.

The breeding and young periods are partly calculated from the documented mating periods and gestation length. Confirm local timing from flowering records, targeted surveys and project-specific observations.

• Breeding and mating: Mating aggregations are reported in early March and October. March and October are therefore the peak mating months.
• Young dependent: With gestation of 3.5 to 4 months, the October mating period is expected to produce young around January to February, and the March mating period around June to July. Young remain dependent for 6 to 8 weeks.
• Seasonal roost movement: Roosting is reported closer to rainforest edges in winter and more within rainforest interiors during spring and autumn, apparently following food resources.
• Flowering resource use: The species depends on diverse nectar-producing plant communities throughout the year. The supplied documents do not define a single national flowering peak, so local flowering calendars should guide project timing.
• Highest clearing risk: Risk is highest during the two breeding cycles and when dependent young are likely to be present, approximately January to March and June to September. Clearing at any time can remove foliage roosts and flowering habitat because roosts change daily and food resources are used year round.

Identification

This is a very small pteropodid bat with a fox-like face, large eyes and a long, narrow muzzle. It is most often detected at night in flowering vegetation, rather than at a permanent communal roost.

Adults have light brown to reddish-brown fur on the upper body and paler fur below. The species has relatively long, rounded ears without tragi, large black eyes, no visible tail and a long, narrow tongue with brush-like projections for collecting nectar and pollen.

Its small size is a useful field character. Body length is 40 to 60 mm, wingspan is 72.4 to 92.7 mm and weight is 18.9 to 20.5 g.

Identification: Distinguishing features

Separate it from the larger flying-foxes that may use the same flowering resources by its much smaller body, small wingspan, solitary behaviour and foliage roosting. It is not an insectivorous microbat and does not use echolocation for navigation.

Sexes are alike in external appearance. Males and females may associate briefly around mating periods, but the species is otherwise generally solitary.

Identification: Field signs and detection

Day roosts are individual resting sites in dense subcanopy foliage. Roosts may change daily, so the absence of bats from one foliage site does not show that the habitat is unused.

At night, look for slow, hovering flight at flowers and repeated visits to flowering patches. The species has good visual and olfactory perception, uses chirps, and does not produce echolocation calls for navigation. No species-specific tracks, scats, nests or other reliable ground signs are described in the supplied documents.

Distribution: Australian range

The species occurs along the eastern side of Australia from Queensland to mid eastern New South Wales. The supplied material also records a much wider regional distribution through New Guinea and nearby Indonesian islands.

In Australia, records extend through coastal Queensland and south to mid eastern New South Wales. It is associated mainly with eastern coastal and subcoastal areas, but has been captured up to 75 km inland in the south-east Queensland bioregion.

The species was included in priority fauna modelling for the South East Queensland Bioregion and in the North East and Lower North East New South Wales forest regions.

Distribution: Strongholds and connected habitat

The documents do not identify a national stronghold, total population or formally defined subpopulation. Records and habitat modelling indicate use of coastal and subcoastal rainforest, heathland and adjoining moist forest, including fragmented forest where flowering resources remain connected.

The South East Queensland model was based on presence-only records and rated medium accuracy. The model used forest cover, maximum monthly moisture and rainfall seasonality, and experts considered some upland and inland predictions to be overestimates.

Population estimate: No national or regional population estimate is provided.

Population trend: No quantitative national trend is provided. Local reductions were reported around Fraser Island, Queensland.

Recorded inland distance: Up to 75 km from the coast in the South East Queensland Bioregion.

Model accuracy: Medium accuracy for the South East Queensland habitat distribution model.

Habitat: Forest and coastal communities

The southern blossom bat needs a linked set of habitats: moist forest for daytime roosting and nearby flowering communities for nocturnal feeding. Habitat quality depends on the availability of flowers across the year, not simply on the presence of forest at a single site.

Habitat includes subtropical and littoral rainforest, lowland rainforest patches, wet sclerophyll and other moist forest, Melaleuca swamp forest, eucalyptus forest, moss forest and forest edges adjacent to heathland.

In southern Queensland, the species is associated with lowland rainforest patches beside heathlands containing flowering Melaleuca, Banksia, Callistemon and some Eucalyptus. Relevant coastal vegetation units include Banksia woodland and heath, wet heath, Melaleuca wetlands and coastal dune and swale vegetation.

Habitat: Structure and climate

Important structural features include dense subcanopy foliage for daytime roosting, a forest edge or nearby open route to flowering plants, and a diverse mix of nectar-producing plant communities. Individuals commonly use forest margins and may cross cleared ground between habitat patches.

The species has been reported from sea level to 3,000 m in the broader range described by the source. Australian project assessments should prioritise moist coastal and subcoastal forest, heathland and wetland vegetation rather than applying the full reported elevation range without local records.

Reported elevation range: 0 to 3,000 m in the broader geographic range.

Key model predictors in South East Queensland: Highest monthly moisture and rainfall seasonality, with a forest mask applied.

Foraging habitat: Food plants

This is a specialised nectarivore. It follows flowering resources through a mosaic of rainforest, heathland, wetland and forest communities and can continue using fragmented habitat where flowers remain available and travel routes are retained.

The diet consists of nectar and pollen. In southern Queensland, the main recorded food resources are Melaleuca, Banksia, Callistemon and some Eucalyptus species. Other sources also identify Grevillea and some rainforest plants as food resources.

The bat's long, brush-tipped tongue extracts nectar and pollen from flowers. It does not supplement this diet with insects or other plant material according to the supplied account.

Foraging habitat: Foraging movements

Individuals roost in forest subcanopy foliage during the day and fly to nearby heathland, forest edges and flowering forest at night. They can hover while feeding and often revisit the same feeding patches for several days before moving to another patch.

Home ranges recorded by telemetry were 0.12 to 17.96 km². Individuals may include more than one forest fragment in their home range and may fly up to 5.8 km across open ground, although retained vegetation corridors and forest margins are preferred.

Home range: 0.12 to 17.96 km².

Recorded flight across open ground: Up to 5.8 km.

Breeding habitat: Breeding sites

Breeding requires access to flowering resources and suitable foliage roosts within subtropical or littoral rainforest and adjoining coastal or riverine forest. The species produces a single dependent young at a time and can breed twice in a year.

The New South Wales forest assessment describes breeding habitat as subtropical and littoral rainforest, with breeding in a coastal complex in spring and a riverine rainforest or coastal complex in autumn. A diverse range of nearby nectar-producing plant communities is required.

There is no evidence in the supplied documents that the species uses tree hollows, caves, burrows or communal maternity roosts for breeding. Breeding and daytime shelter appear to be associated with foliage in moist forest.

Breeding habitat: Breeding biology

Breeding frequency: Twice a year.

Mating periods: Early March and October.

Young per mating period: One.

Gestation: 3.5 to 4 months, with an average of 3.6 months.

Weaning and independence: 6 to 8 weeks.

Female maturity: 6 to 8 months.

Male maturity: About 1 year.

Recorded lifespan: 2 to 6 years in captivity, with an average of 5 years. Wild lifespan is not established in the supplied documents.

Sheltering habitat: Day roosts

The species does not depend on a fixed communal roost. It shelters alone in foliage, with roost location changing through the year and often from day to day.

Daytime roosts are in dense subcanopy foliage within subtropical, littoral or other moist rainforest and forest. Individuals generally roost alone and may change roosts daily.

The species shifts roosting position seasonally. It is reported closer to rainforest edges in winter and more within rainforest interiors during spring and autumn, apparently in response to the location of food resources.

Sheltering habitat: What is not known

The supplied documents do not give a preferred roost tree species, roost height, foliage patch size or minimum canopy diameter. They also do not identify regular use of hollows, caves, buildings, nests or burrows.

During clearing, inspect and retain dense subcanopy foliage in moist forest, rainforest edges and habitat beside flowering heathland. Because roosts can be individual and short-lived, a negative daytime search does not exclude use of the site.

Threats: Clearing and fragmentation

The main project risks are loss and fragmentation of rainforest, heathland and flowering forest, together with disturbance to foliage roosts and changes to fire and wetland conditions. The species can cross cleared land, but fragmentation still reduces food continuity and increases exposure to predators.

Habitat clearing is identified as the highest-ranked disturbance in the New South Wales assessment. Clearing can remove both foliage roosts and flowering plants, while fragmentation can increase predation and reduce food availability.

Development of heathlands and clearing of rainforest patches are specifically identified threats. Retain links between moist forest, rainforest edges, heathland and wetland flowering communities, and avoid isolating small forest patches.

Threats: Fire, weeds and hydrology

Wildfire and management burning are ranked as important disturbances. Inappropriate fire regimes can reduce flowering in heathland plants, which can remove feeding resources even where forest cover remains.

Weed invasion, weed spraying, aerial spraying of bitou bush, drainage of swamps, sand mining and disturbance of coastal dunes are also identified risks. These activities can reduce flowering habitat, alter wetland vegetation or remove rainforest and coastal habitat.

Threats: Predators, roads and other disturbance

Recorded or reported predators include raptors, tree snakes, feral cats and foxes. Cats and foxes may take bats feeding at low flowers, and fragmentation may increase predation pressure.

Roads and other infrastructure can remove habitat and increase the amount of open ground between roosts and feeding patches. The New South Wales assessment ranks recreational four-wheel driving and sand dune disturbance as additional risks, and identifies barbed wire fences and introduced predators as lower-ranked risks.

Threats: Disease and climate

The supplied documents do not identify a species-specific disease threat or provide evidence of a population-level disease trend. Climate change is listed as a potential disturbance, and changing temperature, rainfall and flowering conditions may affect food availability and roost use.

Survey methodology: 1. Habitat assessment and records search

Survey the Southern Blossom Bat, Syconycteris australis, as a foliage-roosting, nocturnal nectarivore associated with rainforest, wet forest, heathland and Melaleuca swamps. It does not use echolocation for navigation, so visual and habitat-based methods are more suitable than ultrasonic call detection alone.

Map all subtropical and littoral rainforest, lowland rainforest patches, wet forest, heathland, Banksia, Melaleuca swamp and flowering coastal vegetation within and near the project area.

Check recent records and modelled habitat before field work, including records up to 75 kilometres inland in south-east Queensland and records from coastal Queensland to mid eastern New South Wales.

Treat the regional habitat model as a screening tool rather than a definitive distribution map, because the published model was rated medium accuracy and upland and inland areas may have been overpredicted.

Key food plants recorded in southern Queensland: Melaleuca, Banksia, Callistemon and some Eucalyptus species

Recorded inland distance in the south-east Queensland bioregion: Up to 75 kilometres from the coast

Published habitat model accuracy: Medium

Survey methodology: 2. Nocturnal visual survey

Undertake nocturnal spotlighting and direct observation along rainforest edges, subcanopy foliage, heathland margins, flowering plants and flight paths between retained forest and feeding areas.

Prioritise early March and October, when small mating groups may form, and periods when nectar-producing plants are flowering.

Survey from dusk through the main nocturnal activity period, with the number of nights, observation hours, transect length and area searched documented and justified by a qualified ecologist and the relevant state survey requirements.

Record every bat observation with time, location, habitat, flight direction, behaviour, plant species being visited, weather and photographs where possible.

Do not rely on ultrasonic detectors as the sole detection method, because the species is reported not to use echolocation for navigation.

Activity period: Nocturnal

Reported mating periods: Early March and October

Roost location: Individually in dense subcanopy foliage

Typical feeding locations: Nearby heathlands and flowering forest margins

Survey methodology: 3. Daytime roost and food-resource inspection

Inspect dense subcanopy foliage in rainforest patches and forest edges during the day, while avoiding unnecessary disturbance to individual roosting bats.

Map flowering Melaleuca, Banksia, Callistemon, Eucalyptus and other nectar-producing plants that may connect roosting foliage with feeding areas.

Inspect retained habitat and proposed clearing edges for continuous foliage connections, rainforest fragments, heathland adjacency and wetland vegetation.

Use presence records, suitable habitat and evidence of recent flowering to refine the need for additional nocturnal survey rather than treating a failed daytime inspection as evidence of absence.

Roosting behaviour: Individuals change roosts daily

Reported home range: 0.12 to 17.96 square kilometres

Recorded open-ground flight distance: Up to 5.8 kilometres

Survey methodology: 4. Minimum effort and reporting

• Use a suitably qualified ecologist to set survey effort for the project footprint, season, habitat quality and proposed disturbance, and record nights, hours, transect length, observers, weather and search area.
• Obtain any required animal ethics, scientific, wildlife rehabilitation, capture or handling approvals before trapping, capture or handling is proposed.
• Report positive and negative survey results separately, including the limitations of visual detection and the absence of echolocation calls as a reliable survey signal.
• Submit confirmed records, photographs, coordinates and survey metadata to the relevant state wildlife database and other government biodiversity data systems required by the approval.
• Retain field sheets, photographs, habitat maps, weather data, detection effort and fauna handling records with the project environmental records.

Before habitat disturbance: Avoid and minimise habitat loss

Avoid clearing the habitat elements that support both roosting and nectar feeding. The main planning risk is loss of rainforest foliage, heathland and flowering resources, or separation of these areas by roads, work compounds and cleared corridors.

Retain subtropical and littoral rainforest, wet forest, coastal heathland, Melaleuca swamps, Banksia vegetation and flowering trees wherever practicable.

Retain connected forest edges and foliage corridors between rainforest roosting areas and nearby heathland or flowering forest.

Avoid clearing during periods of concentrated flowering where practicable, particularly where the works would remove the only available nectar source near retained rainforest.

Do not assume that small forest patches are unimportant, because the species roosts in foliage, uses forest margins and may include more than one forest fragment within its home range.

Before habitat disturbance: Approvals and fauna planning

Check whether the project requires an EPBC Act referral, noting the supplied project information records the species as not listed under the EPBC Act.

Check the current threatened species schedule for the state or territory in which the work occurs, because the supplied information records the species as Vulnerable in New South Wales.

Obtain state fauna survey, capture, handling, relocation and wildlife rehabilitation approvals before works begin.

Include the species in the project fauna management plan where suitable habitat, flowering resources or known records occur.

Set out the qualified fauna spotter catcher's authority, exclusion zones, stop-work triggers, handling procedure, release locations, veterinary arrangements and reporting requirements.

Before habitat disturbance: Site preparation and staging

Complete the pre-clearance survey shortly before disturbance and repeat it if the work is delayed, habitat conditions change or flowering resources become available.

Mark retained rainforest, heathland, wetland vegetation, flowering trees, forest edges and movement corridors before machinery enters the site.

Use staged clearing from the disturbed area towards retained habitat so mobile fauna can move away from machinery.

Install exclusion fencing around retained habitat, wetlands and marked food resources where fencing will not create a barrier to normal bat movement.

Brief all machinery operators and supervisors on the species, the marked no-go areas, the fauna spotter catcher's authority and the stop-work procedure.

During habitat disturbance: Daily controls

A fauna spotter catcher must control the interface between machinery and habitat. Work must stop whenever the approved controls cannot protect a bat, its roosting foliage or connected feeding habitat.

Inspect the work area, exclusion fencing, retained vegetation and access routes before each shift.

Confirm that weather, visibility, lighting and machinery movements remain suitable for the approved clearing method.

Keep machinery outside marked rainforest, heathland, wetland, flowering vegetation and retained corridor areas unless the fauna spotter catcher has cleared the specific work zone.

Use the spotter catcher's direction as a mandatory machinery control, and stop the machine immediately when instructed.

Maintain a daily record of cleared area, habitat type, flowering resources, fauna observations, incidents, relocations, injuries, weather and the names of personnel involved.

During habitat disturbance: Fauna handling and stop-work response

Stop work if a Southern Blossom Bat is seen, found roosting, trapped, injured or at risk from machinery.

Allow a healthy bat to leave naturally where it can move safely into nearby retained foliage, and do not chase it through the canopy or handle it unnecessarily.

Only a person authorised under the relevant state approval should capture, handle or relocate the bat.

If relocation is approved, release the bat into nearby retained foliage that provides shelter and access to suitable flowering habitat, and record the exact release location and time.

Place an injured, grounded or apparently compromised bat in a secure, dark, quiet container and arrange prompt assessment by an appropriately authorised wildlife carer or veterinarian.

Do not give food or water unless directed by an authorised wildlife carer or veterinarian.

Escalate any repeated sightings, roosting concentration, injury, mortality or inability to maintain the exclusion zone to the project ecologist and environmental officer before work resumes.

During habitat disturbance: Habitat feature protection

Protect foliage-roosting habitat and avoid shaking, felling or trimming retained subcanopy vegetation unless it has been inspected and cleared under the approved procedure.

Protect rainforest edges, heathland, Melaleuca swamps, flowering Banksia, Callistemon, Melaleuca and Eucalyptus trees, and any vegetation linking these resources.

Treat wetland drainage, sand extraction, road construction, weed spraying, aerial spraying and recreational vehicle access as potential habitat impacts requiring environmental controls.

Do not apply hollow, log, rock or burrow procedures as a substitute for foliage-roost protection, because the supplied species information identifies foliage rather than hollows, logs or caves as the relevant shelter feature.

After habitat disturbance: Post-clearance checks

Post-clearing checks must confirm that no bat remains in the work area and that retained feeding and roosting habitat is still connected and protected. Continue controls until rehabilitation areas and retained vegetation are stable.

Inspect the cleared area, retained forest edge, subcanopy foliage, heathland margin and wetland vegetation after each clearing stage.

Complete an additional nocturnal check where a bat was observed, where clearing removed dense foliage, or where the fauna spotter catcher could not inspect the work area safely during clearing.

Check exclusion fencing, lighting, dust controls, drainage and access routes for effects on retained flowering plants and forest connections.

Record carcasses, injured animals, roosting observations, feeding observations and any change in the condition of retained habitat.

After habitat disturbance: Monitoring and reporting

Monitor retained rainforest, heathland, Melaleuca swamp and flowering vegetation at the frequency set by the approval or fauna management plan.

Use repeat visual surveys and habitat checks to assess whether the species continues to use retained foliage and nearby feeding resources.

Report all incidents, mortality, relocations, permit non-compliance and unexpected habitat loss to the project environmental officer and the relevant regulator within the time required by the approval.

Update the project risk assessment if clearing fragments habitat, removes flowering resources or separates rainforest from heathland.

Maintain fauna controls, no-go areas and lighting, dust, weed and drainage controls for the full construction period.

After habitat disturbance: Offsets and residual impacts

Assess residual impacts after avoidance, minimisation and rehabilitation measures have been applied.

Obtain specialist advice on any required state offset, biodiversity credit, Commonwealth offset or other compensatory measure before finalising the project approval pathway.

Base any offset or compensation proposal on the habitat functions affected, including foliage roosting habitat, flowering nectar resources, heathland, rainforest fragments and connectivity between them.

Rehabilitation actions: Restore roosting and feeding habitat

Rehabilitation should restore the linked roosting and feeding system, not only a tree canopy. The target is retained or restored foliage near diverse, seasonally available nectar resources, with functioning forest edges and wetland vegetation.

Replant or regenerate subtropical and littoral rainforest and wet forest around retained habitat patches and along cleared edges.

Restore nearby heathland, Banksia, Melaleuca, Callistemon and suitable Eucalyptus food plants where they are part of the local vegetation community.

Use local provenance plants suited to the site and do not plant species outside the approved ecological community simply because they are listed as food plants.

Design planting to reconnect rainforest foliage with heathland, wetland and flowering forest rather than creating isolated tree rows.

Do not install hollow boxes as the primary measure for this species, because the available species information identifies dense foliage as its sheltering habitat.

Reported food plants: Melaleuca, Banksia, Callistemon and some Eucalyptus species

Reported shelter: Subcanopy and forest foliage

Habitat association: Rainforest or wet forest adjacent to heathland or other flowering habitat

Rehabilitation actions: Manage restored habitat

Control lantana, bitou bush and other weeds that suppress flowering plants, rainforest regeneration or heathland structure.

Prevent drainage, sedimentation and altered water flow from degrading Melaleuca swamps and other wetland feeding habitat.

Manage fire so that heathland flowering resources and rainforest edge vegetation are not repeatedly removed or degraded by inappropriate burning.

Reduce artificial night lighting at restored edges and retained habitat where practicable.

Control feral cats and foxes in accordance with the approved pest management program, because both are reported predators of the species.

Rehabilitation actions: Rehabilitation monitoring and success measures

Inspect planted and regenerating areas after construction and after major fire, flood, drought or weed events.

Measure survival and cover of planted rainforest, heathland, Banksia, Melaleuca, Callistemon and Eucalyptus plants against the approved rehabilitation targets.

Confirm that restored vegetation forms a continuous or functionally connected route between retained foliage and flowering habitat.

Record flowering times, nectar-resource availability, weed cover, fire impacts, predator activity and bat observations.

Use repeat nocturnal visual surveys and daytime foliage inspections to test whether Southern Blossom Bats return to restored habitat, and submit confirmed records to the relevant state wildlife database.

Sources

• [PDF] Response to Disturbance of Forest Species, Australian Government DCCEEW: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/sitecollectiondocuments/rfa/regions/nsw-north-east/enviroment/nsw_ne_na17eh.pdf
• [DOC] SYSTEMATIC VERTEBRATE FAUNA SURVEY PROJECT, Australian Government DCCEEW: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/sitecollectiondocuments/rfa/regions/qld-south-east/enviroment/habitat-quality/qld_se_eh2b.doc
• Syconycteris australis (southern blossom bat) | INFORMATION ..., animaldiversity.org: https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Syconycteris_australis/
• assessment of habitat quality for priority species in ..., Australian Government DCCEEW: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/sitecollectiondocuments/rfa/regions/qld-south-east/enviroment/habitat-quality/qld_se_eh2b.pdf
• Survey guidelines for Australia's threatened bats, Australian Government DCCEEW: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/survey-guidelines-bats.pdf