Miena jewel beetle surveys and management

The Miena jewel beetle (Castiarina insculpta) is only found in the Great Lake/Lake Augusta area of Tasmania’s eastern Central Plateau, occurring in open heath and subalpine woodland above 900 m within mature stands of Ozothamnus hookeri (scaly everlasting bush).

This species is classified as endangered under the Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 and given its endemic status in Tasmania warrants consideration for listing at a national level. The species is under threat by climate change, illegal collection, and habitat loss through conversion, over-grazing and fire.

Our team at North Barker have experience mapping suitable habitat for the Miena jewel beetle, including stratifying habitat quality by maturity and suitable stem density of the parent plant species, as well as detecting and discriminating their characteristic bore holes (these being roughly oval shaped, 5-6 mm long and 3-4 mm wide, within O. hookeri stems ≥ 10 cm and maintaining that width for ≥ 50 cm – noting the parent species can also support boring larvae of other species).

In recent years our team has discovered and mapped > 55 ha of previously un-documented habitat for this species. With help from specialists at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, we were able to confirm the presence of adult beetles following the detection of bore holes.

Our clients were then able to prioritise avoidance of occupied habitat patches, aided by our development of an innovative mitigation strategy involving translocation of plant stems to safe patches where avoidance is not achievable.