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The
species was first identified in 1992, and is probably restricted to
three creeks in urban Burnie. Two creeks, which have remnant
stands of vegetation along their banks, are within the parks system of
Burnie. They are under the control of the Burnie City Council
and are protected.
The
third creek is of some concern, as the crayfish population is small and
habitat has been nearly completely destroyed. Water quality
is also poor because of a refuse site upstream.
The
three creeks are:Romaine creek, Romaine reserve.
Shorewell creek, Burnie park.
Cooee creek, this is the third creek and the one of greatest concern.
A recent study, 'Management requirements for rare and threatened
burrowing crayfish in Tasmania(N.Doran, K.Richards, Forestry
Tasmania)', has recommended that E. yabbimunna be reclassified from
'Vulnerable' to 'Endangered', and that it be listed on the Commonwealth
Threatened Species Act.
The Burnie burrowing crayfish is approximately 3-4cm long and spends
nearly all its time underground. They dig their burrows in
moist
flood plains of creeks or in seepage areas. Many burrow
entrances
are found under rotting logs and ground water is near to the surface,
so foraging takes place in water. E.yabbimunna forage under
fallen logs and eat the phloem and xylem of rotting
vegetation.
It is believed that the crayfish also eat aquatic invertebrates.
The best habitat has an understorey of Tree ferns, Dicksonia antartica,
Cutting grass,Gahnia grandis, and a dense cover canopy of Paperbarks,
Melaleuca ericifolia, and Blackwoods, Acacia melanoxylon.
This
area has rich organic soils on a substrate of Tertiary basalt.
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