Distribution and Conservation Status of the Mt Mangana Stag Beetle, Lissotes Menalcas (coleoptera: Lucanidae)

Lissotes menalcas (the Mt Mangana Stag Beetle) is an obligate beetle and is presently classified as vulnerable under the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995. The distribution, habitat and conservation status of this species were Inv"esturated through a combination of collation of known locations and searches for the in decaying logs across likely areas of occurrence. L. menalcaswas found to have a wide distribution in southeastern Tasmania and is now recorded from 34 localities. The species was found in a variety ofwet forest habitats from old-growth mixed forest through to 23-year-old wet eucalypt silvicultural regrowth. About 12% of wet eucalypt forest within the predicted range of L. menalcas is formally reserved, and another 14% on Crown land is unlikely to be subject to logging. L. menalcas appears to tolerate both wildfire and clearfelling with regeneration burning. Because the species depends on an ongoing supply ofrotting logs for its long-term survival, plantation development will probably lead to the elimination ofthe species from such areas. Analysis of the likely impact ofplantation establishment within its range over the next ten years indicates that it will not reach levels that would lead it to be considered as vulnerable. Thus, it is recommended that the status of the species be changed from vulnerable to rare. However, there is a need to determine the ecological sustainability ofpresent forest management practices in relation to the decaying-log habitat and to continue to monitor the extent of clearing and modification of the species' habitat.