Eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus Shaw, 1800): a review of recent sightings on mainland Australia

Abstract

Whether the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) is extinct on mainland Australia, particularly New South Wales (NSW), is the focus of this study. The species declined rapidly during the mid to late 1800s in parts of south-east Australia and in the early 1900s around Bega (New South Wales). The last definite live individual was recorded at Vaucluse, NSW in 1963. The recent emergence of a specimen from Barrington Tops, NSW, in 1989 caused much public interest and enabled us to seek reports of sightings after we advertised publicly for any records. Here we document numerous post-1963 records, the most noteworthy including: a photograph of an eastern quoll (reported to be taken in 2013 in the Nungatta area of NSW), records from Wollemi National Park (2002 and 2006) and multiple observations from the 1990s from around Barrington Tops and Carrai. There has been insufficient recent mammal survey effort to definitively support these public reports but at this stage there are sufficient recent credible records to consider that this species may not be extinct on mainland Australia.