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Elected representatives in government are in charge of the policy and funding that can make or break saving threatened species. Their decisions and actions matter.

Calare has or used to have 37 threatened animals within its boundaries. One of them is me, the Bathurst Copper Butterfly.

We took care to attach appropriate images that are as close to representative of each species as our resources and the availability of images allowed. However, we could not ensure perfect accuracy in every case. Some images show species that share the same genus but not at the species or subspecies level.

Photo of Bathurst Copper Butterfly

Bathurst Copper Butterfly

Paralucia spinifera

Status: Vulnerable

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) lists threatened species under six categories:
Extinct, Extinct in the wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Conservation dependent. Read more about these categories

Paralucia spinifera is only found within Calare

The Purple Copper Butterfly is small, with shining purple wings, or dark brown wings with bronze and purple patches. Both sexes display some small blue spots, black veins and wings fringed with black and white. Endemic to the Central Tablelands, New South Wales, this species occurs in Eucalypt woodland, where it is mainly found in open clearings in locations above 900 m in altitude. The Purple Copper Butterfly has an intricate relationship with an attendant ant and a host plant, both without which the species would not persist in the wild. Given the reliance of this species on Blackthorn, the primary threats to the Purple Copper Butterfly are those that impact on the abundance of this host plant. Threats include competition from weeds, extensive and repeated disturbance by feral goats and pigs and inadequate fire management.¹

Explore more about this species on the Atlas of Living Australia

Adverse fire regimesAdverse fire regimes

Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradationHabitat loss, fragmentation and degradation

Invasive species and diseasesInvasive species and diseases

Explore more about the threats facing species on our Resources page.

Calare has or used to have 65 threatened plants found within its boundaries. Some of these might not be as photogenic as the Bathurst Copper Butterfly but they're just as important.

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